The Burning Bone
by Ginjaa Ninjaa
Summary: When you fail your genin exam, you have to make the most of what life gives you. Naruto thought that he was watching his fleeting shinobi career go down the drain. That was until he got a lifeline through an unfortunate event as a death amongst the recent graduating class opens up a free spot which he took. Naruto didn't look back. Bone Pulse Naruto - Godaime Naruto.
1. Grew up in a small town

Naruto hadn't had what you would call an easy life. He was an orphan child who had no memory of his family. All he could remember was getting dropped off at the orphanage and that was it. It was from this point on that Naruto had to make a living for himself. He knew that the orphanage wasn't going to be able to take care of him when he hit the age of Thirteen. He was going to have to make it on his own and that was what exactly he intended on doing.

He might not have been a star studded genius like Neji Hyuga who took out the title of rookie of the year with what seemed like little to no effort whatsoever. What Naruto had instead was this insurmountable work ethic. He didn't believe that there was anyone close to having the same work ethic that he had at least out of his peers. He wanted to become rich and famous. When you came from a broken family where you had no parents, no money and most importantly, no nothing, you wanted to make something of yourself rather than just sit and wallow in pity.

Naruto learned from a very early age that there was nothing in life that was free. Everything that you got in life was because you worked for it. Nothing was given to you for free and everything had a price.

Now to become mega rich which was Naruto's main goal in life, he had to have training. Because he was an orphan, Naruto wasn't able to afford the education that a civilian school could offer. He instead had to rely on the shinobi education which just so happened to be free of charge for anyone who was willing to sign their life away. The fact that it was free of charge was the deciding factor in whether or not Naruto would become a shinobi or civilian.

When it became apparent to Naruto that he was going to become a shinobi, he knew that he was going to have to be very good. Very few shinobi made the sort of money that he wanted to make. You only made that type of money as a shinobi if you were constantly taking the highest ranked missions on a consistent basis.

To get to that level, you had to be damned strong and that was what Naruto wanted. It also helped that his second goal of becoming famous and making something of himself could be achieved by the same way.

It made the six year old kid who was starting at the academy take his studies seriously. He wanted to give himself the best possible chance at becoming the best he could be.

He didn't have any family that could help him out unfortunately so Naruto had to resort to studying as much as he could from the small library in the academy. He wasn't even allowed to go and study in the main shinobi library because he wasn't a genin.

This meant there was only so much that naruto could actually learn about being a shinobi. Naruto could only learn what was on offer at the academy but had made the most out of his situation.

Since he was an orphan, there was only so much food on offer at the orphanage so he was rather limited in the amount of muscle he was able to put on. It didn't matter how much you worked out, if you didn't fuel your body properly then you were going to never grow. That was really the only area where Naruto couldn't make legitimate gains in his abilities as a shinobi. Every other facet of his abilities were fully in his control.

Naruto's chakra control was through the roof as he had had the bright idea one day to attempt to do the leaf balancing exercise with something slightly heavier. It was right then and there that naruto noticed that it was a fair bit harder. At this point Naruto sued a whole host of various things to increase both his chakra capacity and his chakra control.

Whilst he couldn't increase his muscle mass thereby increasing his speed and power in his strikes, Naruto's taijutsu technique was absolutely flawless. When you didn't have much money to spend at all, you kind of had to make do with what you had.

Naruto knew all three of the academy jutsus, had studied for all the written tests and had shown above competency when it came to the throwing portion of the test. All of this pointed to naruto easily passing the test to become a genin.

So why was it that Naruto was so bitter about the shinobi system?

All that could be answered in one name. Kakashi Hatake. Sure Naruto might have been the second best in his class losing to the title of rookie of the year only to Neji Hyuga but that meant nothing to the elite Jonin. Just because Naruto was good didn't mean Team Five deserved to pass the test by virtue of merit. Naruto himself did all the right things apart from managing to get one of the bells. He was willing to work with his team mates even if they weren't at the same level as him.

It was too bad for him that his other two team mates weren't. It was these actions that unfortunately for the genin hopeful to fail his test through no fault of his own. This action forced naruto into having to join the reserves list and wait for any potential place to become available.

Because he had graduated the academy though, Naruto was kicked out of the orphanage as he was deemed capable enough of providing for himself. It was a major kick in the teeth for the genin. If Naruto didn't realise what it was like to be forced to fend for yourself, well he definitely learnt quickly with no place to call home and most importantly, no roof over his head at night.

The survival skills taught at the academy became vitally important to naruto as he had to set up a home as best as he could in such a short space of time. Naruto immediately went to the mission hall to get a d-rank mission. With their being a lot less people, it mean there was tons more work for Naruto. He didn't mind this though as it meant he got all of the profits.

Naruto only got enough time to do three missions a day but when each D-ranked mission paid $100 because he was the only person doing it, it quickly added up. Naruto only had to wait two weeks before he had saved up enough to get the shittiest of shitty apartments. He didn't care one bit though as it meant that he got to have a warm shower. Having a river bath in the start of spring was definitely an intense way to wake up each morning.

It was hard adjusting to life living by yourself but at least for Naruto he now had a roof over his head. Those two weeks at the end of winter having showers with only fresh water coming from a mountain were brutally cold.

For at least a month, Naruto didn't have any time to train his skills as a shinobi. All he was doing was completing D-ranked missions. With the fact that he was a genin without a team, he knew that he was not going to be going on any c-ranked missions any time soon. So without the pressing need to train right away, Naruto focused his attention on building up a safety net of money that he could use in desperate times.

Once he had built up to the point where he had two months' rent saved up in his bank account, Naruto finally relaxed instead of doing three missions a day and moved to a two a day schedule. This time frame allowed Naruto to go to the proper shinobi library and this was really where he managed to shine in terms of growing in skill. Naruto finally had a much larger array of material that he could learn from.

He wasn't just limited to the bare bone basics. Naruto immediately went to the place where he was interested the most. There was really no surprise whatsoever when he arrived at the elemental ninjutsu section considering the fact that he was a boy verging on his teenage years.

After reading as much as he could on the subject, Naruto went to a shinobi supplies shop and made a small investment that would be the best investment he ever made. Naruto bought a piece of chakra paper and watched how it lit up in flames right in front of his very eyes.

The knowledge that he had an affinity for the fire element made Naruto giddy. Despite the fact that he was very much focused on his studies as a shinobi, he was still a kid and being able to breathe fire was damn cool. Sure he knew that he could make wind work but it just wasn't as cool as fire. What Naruto didn't realise at the time was the fact that he had a very strong fire element.

The boy spent time attempting to learn the most basic of basic fire ninjutsus from scrolls that he had found in the library. Being able to make a fire would have been very helpful when he was doing glorified camping.

It took a month of training but thankfully Naruto managed to get it to the point where he had learnt a C-rank fire ninjutsu. It was by no means as powerful as it could be but at least it was an offensive jutsu in his arsenal. There was only so much you could strategize with only having access to the basic three academy jutsu.

Naruto wasn't satisfied with only having learnt one fire ninjutsu. There was a thirst for knowledge and power in the boy and Naruto wanted to be as strong as possible. What started as being able to create three fireballs and being at his limits through hard work changed to allow Naruto to throw out seven of the jutsu.

Throughout the training, Naruto had managed to yet again fine tune his chakra control so he didn't waste chakra when using the Katon: Endan (Fire Release:Flame Bullet.)

With the increase in money that Naruto had, it meant that he could finally eat more than what was on offer the boy who used to live at the orphanage. It was crucial for a growing boy let alone a shinobi at that to eat at a surplus so that he could build up the body required to be a ninja.

**x-X-x**

"Naruto, you are required in the Hokage's office." The ANBU officer stated to which naruto nodded. He had absolutely no idea what the Hokage wanted that had to do with him but he wasn't going to question it.

When he made his way to the Hokage's office. Naruto slowly stepped into the room and even he, someone who was only a genin could tell that there was something wrong. Still the genin who had just hit the one year mark wanted to know what someone like the Hokage wanted with him. He was a peasant in comparison to the village leader so it only begged the question.

"Now Naruto, unfortunately, I would like to deliver this news on better terms but that is not the case." Hiruzen Sarutobi stated as he watched the boy in front of him enter the room.

The boy had no idea as to how the Sandaime Hokage knew his name but he didn't question it. In the back of his mind, Naruto assumed the man had looked at his file.

Hiruzen saw the boy didn't make a motion to speak so he continued on. "There has sadly been a fatality on a mission involving a promising genin. That is not something that you have to concern yourself with but the part that you will be interested in Naruto-kun is the fact that there is a spot available to be on a team." The Hokage stated to which Naruto's eyes widened.

He honestly didn't think that he would get a chance like this. He felt bad for whoever it was that passed away but he was not going to bite the hand that feeds. This was the best chance for him to be able to progress his career as a shinobi.

Ever since his third C-rank mission three months ago, Naruto had felt as if he was starting to stagnate in progression. It was very rare for Naruto to go on missions that were above D-rank. Generally they only trusted those to teams of genin that had months and months of teamwork practice under their respective belts.

"Thank you Hokage-sama! I promise that you won't regret placing me on that team." Naruto said with giddiness and anticipation. He couldn't wait to see what it was like to be on a team.

Hiruzen chuckled. "I haven't actually offered you the chance to be on Team Ten." the war veteran chuckled even harder to himself when he saw the look of fear on the face of the genin in front of him. He normally didn't get the chance to toy with genin and it was one of his favourite things to do.

"Oh, I am sorry Hokage-sama!" Naruto said as he attempted to back pedal and retract his previous statement.

"Haha, don't worry boy. Please don't blame this old man for getting a chuckle. I am going to offer the position in Team Ten. Your sensei will be the man sitting behind you." It was at this point that naruto quickly turned around. It was much to his embarrassment that he didn't even realise that there was someone behind him. He really needed to work on that...

It was at this point that the man walked over to Naruto and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Kid, we're going to have a chat." The jonin said before he and Naruto disappeared by via the shunshin jutsu.

As Hiruzen watched on, he knew it was petty but he couldn't help but not be annoyed at the sight of that boy. Sure, he knew that Konohamaru would have a much better chance at being an adjusted jinchuuriki than Naruto since he had a stronger support network but he didn't like the fact that his grandson was a jinchuuriki.

**x-X-x**

The two shinobi found themselves in a clearing of land that would one day become familiar to Naruto. "My name is Asuma Sarutobi. The first thing I want you to do is to come at me with the intent to kill. I want to see how good you really are." Asuma stated to the son of the fourth Hokage. He had of course read the file of the boy and knew that he was good but he wanted to see it for himself.

This was not the first time that Naruto had heard something this before. The last time he had heard it was when he was in his final genin exam up against Kakashi. He definitely wasn't going to make that mistake again. He was going to show this jonin just how good he really was.

"Alright then, you asked for it!" Naruto said with a grin on his face. Immediately the boy rocketed off the ground as fast as he could. It was slightly faster than the average genin.. Asuma mused that it was about the same speed as the Kiba kid that Kurenai had.

For the purpose of the test, Asuma decided to block the first punch rather than dodge it. _What has this kid been eating? For someone so skinny, he sure packs a punch. _Asuma definitely made sure to dodge rather than block from this point on.

Naruto was shocked that he managed to get a glancing blow on his first hit but then realised that this was just the jonin playing with him._ I should have realised. The difference between myself and Asuma is probably the same as Kakashi. _Once Asuma stepped up a gear, Naruto realised just how much a gulf in class it was.

Naruto attempted to punch the Sarutobi in the face with a jab and when that was dodged, he followed it up with a sweeping kick at the ankles of his opponent. During his taijutsu training at the academy, Naruto distinctly remembered the rule of never going in the air unless you had to because it left you much more vulnerable when you landed.

This was his plan as Naruto realised that he couldn't beat his new sensei in a taijutsu fight. It wasn't even close. Ninjutsu was by far Naruto's better option as this was the area that he was best at.

As this was happening, Asuma could have dodged the attack in a multitude of other ways but he wanted to see if Naruto could spot the opening and take advantage of it. A small grin appeared on the face of the bearded jonin as he watched naruto go through some hand seals and breathe out an impressive ball of fire. The impressive part of this was that Naruto used a jutsu which was normally deemed a C-rank ninjutsu. The power and control that it was used with brought that one in particular up to a B-rank. Judging by the fact that naruto wasn't even breathing any faster than normal meant that his chakra reserves were significantly large for his age.

Because of the simple fact that he didn't want to die, Asuma used some wind manipulation and a hand seal to push his body out of the way of the fireball. "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique)" Naruto called out and quickly followed up with another fire ninjutsu. Whilst this one did less damage, there was a greater chance for some damage to be inflicted.

Using speed that generally only jonin had, Asuma dodged the incoming attack. He decided that he had enough of being on the defensive and wanted to see what Naruto was made of. Asuma pulled a kunai out of its holster and threw it at the blonde haired boy. As the metal sailed the through the air, Asuma charged at naruto with another kunai.

Naruto quickly pulled out one of his own and did his best to prolong the fight. _Shit! He dodged my attacks like they were nothing! _Naruto thought to himself as he struggled to think of something that would catch this jonin off guard. In a split second, Naruto through the kunai in his hand at Asuma whilst he was at point blank range. He didn't even bother to look if the kunai did any damage as naruto was already pulling out another kunai in case his previous attack missed.

It did miss unfortunately. In a burst of speed, Asuma appeared behind Naruto and held a kunai to the back of his throat.

"You're good kid but this spar is over. Now let's talk." The man gruffly stated to which Naruto nodded. He tried his best to calm his racing heart. Once the two of them were sitting down Asuma spoke up. "So as the Hokage stated, one of my students passed away recently on a mission. None of your team mates are over it and to be honest, I'm not really either. I'm just making the best out of a bad situation.

Because of the situation I think it is only fair that I tell you what happened." Naruto could tell that this was obviously something that was hard for him to talk about since it was still so fresh in his mind. That so, Naruto knew that he would always be asking this question if he didn't get answers and definitely the other two genin would not want to talk about it that's for sure.

"I originally wanted to take my team on a C-rank mission just to show them the ropes of what it means to be a shinobi. Of course, there was no real danger because I myself can do C-rank missions in my sleep. What happened was that the client had lied about the status of the mission. Instead of it being bandits after him, it happened to be the second strongest seven swordsmen of the mist." Asuma noticed Naruto's eyes widening at the mentioning the name of that group. _Good._

"I could have fought Zabuza to a standstill but my genin froze at their first sign of combat against two chunin who came after them. The only person who didn't was Shikamaru. It was his first mission and he did his best to co-ordinate his two team mates but they had a fucking accomplice who masqueraded as a hunter nin. I saw the hunter nin and originally thought that he was here to help kill Zabuza." Asuma shook his head for a moment before continuing on.

"I was wrong. The hunter nin quickly turned onto my genin and threw a senbon which killed Shikamaru on impact. I immediately called a halt to the fight and Zabuza and his accomplice left after I said we will take Tazuna back to Konoha's prison. I tried my best to revive the kid but couldn't do it."

"You don't have to say any more sensei, thank you for telling me at this much." Naruto said quietly as he looked to his sensei.

"I shouldn't have taken the mission. It's all my fault." Asuma said to himself as he looked down at his hands.

Naruto was shocked. From the story that he had just heard, his sensei was definitely not the one at fault. "None of this is your fault sensei! It's that dickhead of a client that did this. You said yourself that you could do C-rank missions yourself in your sleep and you would have completed that mission if it stayed as a C-rank mission cause your heaps strong!"

"Haha thanks Naruto. I needed that. Now, changing subjects, I am going to be annihilating you and your two team mates from tomorrow in training." For the first time since the death of Shikamaru, Asuma chuckled when he saw a look of fear and trepidation on the face of his newest student.

"Some quick advice though, with the amount of power you can pack in your taijutsu with such a small frame, you should drink a lot more milk and eat a lot more meat. With the amount of chakra that you have in your body, genjutsu isn't really going to be your strong point so you need to increase your taijutsu to even you out." Asuma wasn't going to tell the boy just yet that he had chakra reserves on the same level as a special jonin what with being the son of Minato and Kushina as well as all of the training that he had done.

Naruto immediately nodded and watched as his sensei flickered away with a shunshin jutsu. He honestly didn't think that today could get any better with how he just found himself a lifeline on his shinobi career. At around the six month mark in his career as a genin shinobi, Naruto felt himself stagnating and couldn't think of a way to break the mould.

With renewed motivation thanks to getting a sensei, Naruto headed home and fully intended to take up Asuma-sensei on his suggestion whilst studying that scroll on elemental manipulation he had borrowed from the library. A nice cool glass of chocolate milk sounded good to Naruto right about now.

**x-X-x**

Where Asuma was walking, it wasn't a place that he normally frequented. It was deep in the underground of Konoha. It had been a long time since he had seen his former sensei. All of the ROOT ANBU members that he could see didn't even bother to try and stop Asuma. They knew that he was more than welcome down these parts and they didn't want to annoy Danzo-sama.

A lot of people thought that ROOT was dead. They were fools. Everyone who was in the know knew that the Sandaime actually kept it going although the less he knew about it the better. Whilst he didn't like the means, the ends that Danzo achieved were more often than not certainly justified.

"It, it has been a while Danzo-sensei." Asuma stated as he took in the appearance of his jonin team leader back in the day. He wasn't going to say anything but the old man had definitely seen better days.

"It has indeed Asuma-kun. So what is it that I can do for you? You wouldn't be down here unless there was something that you needed." Asuma winced. To most people when Danzo spoke he was completely monotone. Not to his student he wasn't. Asuma could hear annoyance in the voice of his sensei. He knew that the man was justified after all, his father wasn't the only person who he left when he joined the twelve guardian ninja.

"Danzo-sensei, I'm looking for some guidance. I have never lost a student before..." Asuma quietly stated as he sat down in the chair opposite the war veteran.

A flash of understanding went across the face of the man before he spoke up. Despite the picture he let people paint of him, Danzo wasn't emotionless as certain people liked to believe. He did care for people but he had lost so many of them that he liked to keep himself guarded. Asuma's two team mates were a good example. "This is about Shikamaru isn't." Asuma didn't respond. "Some of this is your fault." This shocked Asuma. It wasn't particularly something that he wanted to hear but he supposed that it was something that he needed to hear. He was thankful that his sensei wasn't someone who pulled punches.

"None of that matters now though Asuma-kun. Two of your genin need you more than ever right now and the third one needs you to set a good example as he doesn't have any role models." Asuma nodded at the words that came from Danzo. Once again, the man was right. He pretty much knew it already but just wanted to hear it from another source.

"Now, tell me what you really came here for Asuma-kun. That isn't something that you would come hear after all these years to talk to me about." Danzo stated as he wanted to get down to the crux of conversation.

"I want to complete my training under you sensei. I want to learn vacuum manipulation. I don't want anything ever coming close to what happened recently." Asuma stated to which Danzo nodded. Ever since he had heard of the unfortunate death of the clan heir, there was an inkling in the back of his mind that Asuma might come and meet up again.

He was right. "I am always willing to do what is best for the village Asuma-kun, especially for someone such as yourself. Before we get into that training though, tell me more about Minato's child."

Asuma smirked when he heard this. There was always something that Danzo wanted in when someone asked him something. Thankfully this time he only wanted to know about Naruto. As far as the people that actually mattered in the hierarchy of Konoha, Naruto was far too much of a policitial figure even if the boy didn't know it yet to convert him into a ROOT operative.

"Well I can't fully say that yet but I think he definitely has enough potential to be damn good. He's as good as what I was at his age but he has done all of this without the help of a private tutor like I had. I'm impressed to see what he will be like when he actually has a proper sensei to teach him everything. His chakra reserves are already the size of a special jonin thanks to his mother and father."

"What type of shinobi do you envision him as when he is older?" Danzo questioned, mulling over how to get the most of the potential that Asuma talked about if it was indeed true. With all three of the Sannin having gone walkabout, the veteran shinobi was very much keen to get some world beaters in their force.

"The closest person I can think of similar in terms of Naruto's potential would be Jiraiya-sama. He seems like the army destroying type rather than the assassination type." Asuma stated to which Danzo nodded. This made Minato's son even less of a prospect for the ANBU. Whilst Jiraiya happened to be very good at stealth, he was much better at a front line fighter. He could take out armies thanks to his higher than average chakra pool.

Yes, he wouldn't get attempt to convert the boy but it wouldn't hurt to put in a few good words or two.

**x-X-x**

Unaware of the talk going on between his sensei and his sensei's sensei, Naruto took up the advice of Asuma and started drinking milk and lots of it. Now that he was undertaking missions on a consistent basis that were higher than D-rank he hoped, Naruto knew he could now be a little less frugal with his money.

It was no real surprise to anyone that bothered to know the boy that his first splurge with his hard earned money was on food. There just so happened to be a place called Ichiraku Ramen that he had found for the first time. It was absolutely full of flavour because the best flavours always came from fat. The staff at the store happened to also be very nice so that was a bonus.

After having the ramen, Naruto made his way into a supermarket and got his favourite thing in the world. It wasn't often that Naruto got to have it as the orphanage only received it once in a blue moon but Naruto was going to celebrate! The blonde haired boy bought two cartons each containing two litres of chocolate milk.

It was a delicacy to all of the kids at the orphanage as the place heavily relied on donations from the generous public. It wasn't often that the milk got delivered but when it did it was a mad rush between the kids so that they could get at least one glass. When he came out of the orphanage, he could have spent money on milk but Naruto thought that there were more important things that he could be doing like saving up and drinking water instead.

This was not an issue for Naruto as he was now the proud owner of two jugs of chocolate milk. There was nothing that could ruin his day! Surprisingly enough, Naruto had the patience to make it all the way back to his tiny apartment without opening the two bottles. When he did get home however, oh boy it was game on!

Naruto didn't even bother pouring the milk into a glass before drinking it. He instead started going straight from the bottle and chugged the entire 2l bottle in one go. "Ahhhhh!" Naruto sighed in content as he licked the mini moustache that had been left behind. Now that his fix had been satiated Naruto could now relax with the second one and drink it slower and potentially enjoy it more.

Before he could do that though, something weird started happening for the blonde. His body felt weird. It felt like his internal structure was moving and it was actually kind of painful!

The genin could feel most of the pain coming from his fingers and was surprised and a little bit nervous when he looked down at his fingers and noticed that they had become a few shades whiter than normal. The worst part was that that didn't seem like it was stopping any time soon. If anything, it only server to get worse and worse. That was until Naruto hissed out in pain.

White stuff at this point, Naruto couldn't focus enough to discern what it actually was, started coming out of his fingers. Once he opened his eyes, Naruto screamed! "AHHH!" the boy shouted as he looked down and saw bones coming out of his skin. He was freaking the fuck out. He had no idea what to do. He had never read anything like this happening in one of the textbooks at the academy!

There was a stray thought in the back of Naruto's mind that told him that he should be using his chakra. After all, chakra was the substance that allowed Naruto to breathe fire. Who knew what other applications it had? That stray thought turned out to be a lifeline for Naruto who managed to get the bones to back into his skin.

"Whilst it hurt, that was pretty fucking cool!" Naruto said to himself and he attributed the bones coming out of his hands due to the milk. The genin shinobi took a sip from the second carton and then tried to channel chakra into his fingertips again. This time was significantly less painful and also the bones came out of his skin a fair bit faster this time.

Curiosity killed the cat they always say and Naruto could definitely agree with the sentiment as he touched the bone that was sticking out of his hand with one of his fingers. "Ouch…" Naruto muttered to himself as he realised that the damn things were sharp. It took a few seconds but eventually, the light bulb went off inside the head of Naruto.

He could use these as weapons! The possibilities were endless.

**x-X-x**

As it turned out Naruto had a bloodline limit called the dead bone pulse or at least that was what he figured it was called. There wasn't much time in the day after he had found out about the issue to go to the library and research it up but from the limited time he did have, he learnt the bloodline was based around an ability which let the user manipulate their skeletal structure and use it as a weapon.

He thought it was pretty weird but he wasn't going to complain about it one bit. It was another tool that he could use at his disposal. He had no idea how he was going to use it let alone make the most out of the new ability that he had but he was going to try his best.

One thing that Naruto was aware of though was the fact that it could come across as gross and disgusting. He didn't have many friends ever since his tenure at the academy ended so Naruto wanted to give a good first impression. He didn't particularly want to burn the chance of making friends the first time he met them by showing how much of a freak he was.

He had woken up bright and early just as the sun was rising and got himself as prepared as he could for his first day on Team Ten. He had no idea what he needed but he had two storage scrolls on him which were full just in case.

Today was the beginning of a new lease on his shinobi career and Naruto was definitely going to make the most out it.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

This is an idea that I have been toying around in my head for a while. I have wanted to make a dead bone pulse story and have tried a few times to get it rolling but never really had an outline for the plot. Also, the pairing hasn't been decided yet but I am leaning towards Ino.

As for the chapter, I was half tempted to write the scene of Naruto meeting Choji and Ino but decided against it because it would ruin the flow for the next chapter.


	2. And when the rain would fall down

"Who are you!?" A blonde haired girl demanded as she noticed Naruto walk into the clearing that she had deemed hers. On first inspection he had to admit that she looked pretty good. None of the other girls who were in his year looked as good as this one did.

"I'm Naruto." He replied to the girl who seemed to accept this answer for a minute before inquiring about the boy with her hands on her hips and her head leaning forward.

"Well what are you doing here?" She demanded. After what had happened recently, she wasn't in a particularly friendly mood.

The attitude which was coming across from this girl wasn't something that he particularly liked. It made his initial assessment on her attractiveness go down quickly. "I'm here to join a new team and going by the looks of things, I will be joining this team with your friend over there."

Apparently, this wasn't something that the girl wanted to hear. "Well fuck off!" the formerly pretty, now ugly girl shouted in his face. "We don't need you!" even as she said this, her team mate looked up at her in shock. Naruto noted that this was probably out of the ordinary for the girl but he wasn't going to let her take a free shot at him.

"Me and Chouji will manage just fine without you. Asuma-sensei will train us so hard that we will destroy three man genin teams with only two people! We don't need a replacement for Shikamaru!" The girl passionately declared to which Naruto was slightly impressed by. He didn't like the girl but he could at least appreciate her work ethic. It was what you needed to get to the top.

"It's nice to see you three have met, Now, if names haven't been given yet, I will do that all for you. This here is Ino Yamanaka" Asuma mentioned as he pointed to the lone girl in the team.

"The guy sitting down there looking up at the clouds is Chouji Akimichi." It was at this point that Chouji gave a brief wave of his hand to show that he was not dead.

"Finally, Ino and Chouji, this is your new team mate Naruto Uzumaki. He is a genin who graduated a year before you." Ino looked like she was just about to burst out in a rebuttal of this but Asuma saw it coming.

"Look Ino. I don't care if you don't like him, I really don't but you will not question this order and you will do your best to have the best team work bar none. Do I make myself clear?" The bearded Jonin stated in a commanding tone. It dared anyone stupid to question him.

Ino was tempted to take him up on that offer but after a stare down between the two, she wisely decided to back down and let her sensei finish speaking. "Good." Asuma said in response to Ino backing down.

"Alright. Now I will be the first to admit that I made a few mistakes on the last mission." Before Asuma could continue on, he was stopped by Ino.

"It wasn't your fault sensei! It was that pathetic piece of drunk trash's fault for Shika-kun having to bail us out!" Ino stated as tears started coming out of her eyes. With his life having been taken away so abruptly, it made the blonde haired girl realise just how much of a bad friend she had been. The platinum blonde vowed on that day to become a much better friend to Chouji as he was the last remaining person of her extended family.

Being the prideful girl that she was, Ino quickly wiped away the tears from her face. The surprising thing for Asuma was that Ino wasn't wearing any makeup. He would wait and see just how long this lasted.

"Thanks for that Ino. What I should have said that was that we can definitely learn from what happened. I initially wanted to let you guys see what a real mission was like after some basic training to make sure you could function well as a team. I've seen the error in that and have decided that we are going to be on a month long boot camp. We won't be taking any missions until the month is over from now and you three have improved dramatically in skill. It's not that I think that you're bad shinobi, I just want to make you three so over qualified for whatever mission you are going on that nothing bad happens." Asuma lectured to his students who nodded although Naruto knew that it was going to be a hit to his bank account.

He wouldn't have time to take as many missions as what he used to. He was going to have to watch what he spent his money on. It was a calculated investment on the part of Naruto. He would lose some potential earnings in the short term to make dividends in the long term through higher ranked missions as a Jonin.

"First thing that I want you three to do is tree climbing. All of you come over here." Asuma said as he point to three trees. "What I want you to do is channel chakra into your feet and plant them on the tree. When you try and leave the ground you will feel a pull on your chakra and it relates to how much weight you have to balance. The more weight you have, the more chakra you have to use. Here, I will give you an example." Asuma said and demonstrated how to do chakra climbing.

All three of the genin were wide eyed as they saw just what their sensei was capable of. They didn't know that anything like this was possible. "It is probably best if you start lying down with your feet at the base of the tree walk up as slow as possible. Now get to it."

Asuma stated to which the trio nodded. They didn't want to lose amongst their peers and Naruto himself wanted to give a good impression to his two new team mates.

Ino was the first of the group to go and to Naruto's surprise, she got it first go. It was a little shaky at the start but once her mind muscle connection got in sync, it was a piece of cake for the blonde girl.

"Hah! This is too easy sensei! Was this supposed to be hard or something!?"

Chouji was up next and he managed to make it half way up before he had to let go and fell down to the ground. His ingrained training meant that he landed fine and no damage was done. Unlike Ino, Chouji was simply silent during his first attempt at tree climbing.

Naruto watched the other two with a keen eye and also remembered how he improved his chakra control earlier by doing the leaf balancing exercise but with heavier objects.

A determined look appeared on the face of Naruto as he had a general idea of what he wanted to do. It was even sketchier than when Ino attempted it and it looked like for a moment that he could screw it up but the perseverance of the boy shone through and he staggered for a bit and before taking a big deep breath. Once his mind was cleared, Naruto calmly walked up the tree on his first time.

Asuma was impressed with Naruto. He fully expected Ino to get it on her first go simply for the fact that she had horrendous chakra reserves which by virtue gave her superb chakra control.

Chouji was about on par but Naruto was the real surprise. For someone with such a large supply of chakra at such a young age, it was impressive.

"Alright then. Ino and Chouji, stick with tree climbing. Naruto come with me." Asuma stated and Naruto nodded.

"Hey! Wait a minute! Why does he get to go and do something new when I did even better than him!?" Ino shouted out from the top of the tree. She was furious that this guy was getting what she thought was special treatment.

Naruto himself was curious because he too thought that the girl did better than him.

"It's because your chakra reserves are ridiculously small Ino. I want you to keep doing this until you physically can not do any more. Ino you really need to build up your chakra reserves. Chouji, just keep attempting to get to the top. You will get there soon and once you do, I want you to come join me and Naruto." The bearded jonin stated to which the boy nodded.

"Alright Gaki now follow me." The sensei of the team said to which Naruto nodded. "Alright, what I want you to do here is try and walk on water like you do going up trees. The only difference this time around though is that the surface of the water is always constantly changing so you will need to be able to fluctuate your chakra levels so that you keep balance. I'll be coming back and whether you have water walking down we will be moving onto something else."

Naruto nodded and had a determined look on his face. He was going to complete this!

**x-X-x**

"With the warm up out of the way, it is now time for my favourite part. This is the part where I break you hahaha." The grin on the face of Asuma made the three shinobi in training grimace with fear. They didn't know what the man planned to do but they knew that it wasn't exactly going to be pretty.

"We're going to be doing some physical training so drop down and give me 10 push ups!" Asuma stated in a tone that demanded compliance.

"But Asuma-sensei! I don't want to become buff! Sasuke-kun won't like a muscly steroid freak for a girlfriend!" Ino complained. Not so much because she was afraid of putting in the work but because she wouldn't like the outcome it provided.

"Ino, do you want bigger boobs?" When he saw the nod from the girl, Asuma continued on. "Well do some push ups. Do you want that flat stomach? well do some planks! Do you want a nice firm butt? Do some squats. Do you want to get rid of your wobbly arms? Well you get cracking on those chin ups." Ino still didn't look convinced after this from her sensei so he tried going at it from a different angle.

"Ino-chan, do you think that Kurenai looked really good when she came up to pick her team?" When he saw the vigorous nod, Asuma knew that he had won.

"Well the two of us are good friends and we've trained together and I know that she does all those exercises and more to get her body looking the way it does."

"Oh, so you're good friends with Kurenai-sensei and you have seen her train heaps. Is there something that you aren't telling us sensei!?" The previously angry tone turned into something more upbeat and devilishly curious.

A bead of sweat went down the side of Asuma's face. "Ahhh… um, well you see, stop stalling and give me some damn push ups Ino!" Asuma replied as he attempted to get control of the situation at hand.

Naruto took noticed on his fifth push up that maybe Ino wasn't that bad. He had no idea what it was like to lose someone close to him. He guessed that this was just part of the grieving process. Shaking his head, Naruto got back to work as Choji was beating him in the push up.

"Ino managed 7 push ups, Naruto managed 20 but Choji was the winner here with 24. Alright you guys have 2 minutes rest and then you're going to do as many push ups as you can again."

Ino didn't like it but apart from a few grumblings, there was no real form of rebellion. The next time around the numbers were a fair bit different. Chouji was the big difference as he got 20, Naruto got nineteen whilst Ino still hit seven push ups. It just went to show what the trio needed to work on. Chouji needed to build endurance, Naruto needed to build muscular strength and Ino needed to build both.

This continued on for five sets before Asuma decided to change things up much to the joy of his students. "You guys are doing the exact same thing this time around but you are doing dips. I guess I see why Gai likes doing this so much…" Asuma said to himself as he trailed off towards the end.

The trio complained but got set out on doing the dips. Ino wanted to cry her chest and triceps hurt so much. The only reason why she was still doing this was because of her desire to get bigger boobs just like Asuma had told her it would.

Just when they thought it over as their sensei had told them that it was the last exercise involving their chests. A cheer of jubilation from Ino was a bit too early though as Asuma chuckled once more. "What, you think that that was it? Oh no! you guys get to do pull ups! If all three of you make it through this workout, then I'll shout you guys lunch."

Ino could only groan.

**x-X-x**

Death. That was literally what Naruto felt like he was experiencing. Every single part of his body was absolutely aching. He was feeling saw in every single muscle group that he knew of and some that he didn't even know existed. The only reason why the boy continued on was because of his desire for free food. He was beyond starving and the thought of not having to part with his hard earned cash was something that Naruto was very much interested in exploring.

"Good work kids! You just completed the workout, now go and drink some water and stretch out your body. If you don't you will be extra sore tomorrow morning." What Asuma didn't tell these kids was that they would be very sore tomorrow morning whether they stretched or not.

"Just so you guys know, that is the workout that I use when I was trying to go from Chunin to Jonin. You guys did really well and I'm proud that you didn't give up." Asuma stated as he took a drag from his cigarette.

"You know sensei… that's really bad for you." Naruto said with a look of annoyance on his face.

"I'm not going to stop so you are gonna have to get used to it Gaki and if you're not down with that then I've got two words for ya… no food." Naruto looked horrified at prospect of no free food so he wisely stopped his lips from moving. Ino who looked on at the scene found a little bit of respect for her new team mate. At least he didn't like Asuma smoking as much as she did.

**x-X-x**

"Today was just going to be some training so you three are all free to go but remember I want you at the training ground ready to train at eight in the morning." When his three students nodded, Asuma prepared to leave but stalled when he saw his newest one look at him as if he was going to ask a question.

"Yes?" Asuma asked with a curious expression on his face. He waited for his student to speak up.

Naruto looked a little unconvinced as to whether or not to talk about it and he was kind of having second thoughts. "Asuma-sensei, not around here. There is something that I want to talk to you about but not around here." This made the Jonin sensei curious so he nodded. He wanted to hear what Naruto had to say.

The two of them made their way to the training ground once more to provide an ideal location to talk in private. "So what is it that you want to tell me Naruto?" Asuma questioned now that they were in the clearing.

Naruto gulped. There was no backing out now. "Sensei, when you said yesterday to drink heaps of milk, my body had a reaction and I'm not quite sure if it was a good one or a bad one yet." Now this definitely got the curiosity of the Jonin and he waited for Naruto to continue on speaking. "When I had the milk, I felt my body moving internally and then this happened." As Naruto said this, he concentrated on his hand and Asuma watching in fascination as a bone came out of each and every finger of Naruto's right hand.

"Amazing…!" Asuma said as he couldn't believe what his eyes were telling his brain. Never in a million years did he think he would see another Kaguya bloodline. One of the first people he went up against in a chunin exam was a holder of the dead bone pulse bloodline limit. He saw firsthand just how dangerous the bones could be when used as weapons.

"This opens up so many possibilities…" Asuma stated as his mind was racing with the reveal of something ground breaking in terms of Konoha. Also, if it wasn't for the fact that the mist village was so weak at the moment, it could potentially start a war.

"Alright Naruto, I'm thankful for you telling me that. Tomorrow when we are training, we will start attempting to incorporate your bloodline into your taijutsu. For now though, what I want you to do is go home and start practicing making the bones come out as quickly as possible and also from as many spots on your body as possible." Naruto nodded.

"Also Naruto, don't advertise the fact that you have the bloodline. At the moment you aren't strong enough to fight off potential kidnappers who could come after you." This put the fear into Naruto. How was it going to make tons of bank if there were threats to his life!? "That being said, if you are in a position where you or any of your comrades lives are in jeopardy, I want you to use it, you got that?" Naruto once more nodded at what Asuma was saying. This time though it was slightly more forceful.

"Good. Now I want you to go home and practice with your bloodline. Also gaki, with you having the dead bone pulse ability, calcium is going to be your best friend so I want you drinking copious amounts of milk and eating a lot of cheese." Naruto merely smirked when he heard this.

Hearing orders that he had to drink milk and lots of it was not the worst thing in the world to hear at all. Yeah… he was definitely going to drink lots of chocolate milk! Oh and cheese wasn't that bad either…

"Whilst your doing that I am going to find some training material on how best to train your bloodline. It's rather unique to say the least…" Asuma said whilst chuckling. When he finished saying this, the two of them went their separate ways.

As Naruto went to go and splurge on chocolate milk, the Jonin tossed up some ideas in his head on whether or not he should do something. In the end he decided that for the safety of his student, he should and he didn't want another student's death on his conscience. Asuma headed towards his sensei Danzo once again.

**x-X-x**

"I am surprised you have come to visit me so soon since our last meeting. Generally it is at least a year between visits." Danzo stated without even opening his eyes. Asuma grimaced. No matter how many times he spoke with his sensei, every single time, he still felt like a child.

"Sorry, I'll try to come here more often. Actually, the reason why I am here is because of some interesting recent developments." Danzo didn't speak. He simply waited for his student to continue on speaking.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't blood lines created from children of jinchuuriki?" Asuma questioned which made the single visible eye of Danzo actually become visible when his eyes widened. Admittedly he had forgot about that fact and this was compounded by the fact Minato's son had not shown any signs of having a bloodline. From the way that his student was speaking that was not the case. It seemed the fourth Hokage's son had a bloodline but which one was the question.

Seeing the multitude expressions going on the face of Danzo, Asuma continued on. "Naruto has the dead bone pulse of the Kaguya clan." when he heard this, Danzo was internally licking his lips. Out of all the kekkai genkai's that were out in the world, in the veteran shinobi's mind, the bloodline of the kaguya clan was the most valuable.

"It seems that Minato had some kaguya DNA inside of him when his father moved from the mist village into Konoha. That combined with Kushina being the jinchuuriki must have been enough for the boy to obtain the kekkai genkai." Danzo mused to himself. Once Minato started becoming even close to becoming the Hokage, the war hawk made it his mission to find out as much information about the orphan boy as possible. He managed to find out more than the boy himself knew.

"Yes, so as you can see Danzo-sensei, having a bloodline such as this on my team makes it difficult to fully train Naruto to become the best that he can be. The brat told me that he only manifested the bloodline last night when he drank a lot of calcium. When he told me about this just a little while ago, I told him to spend all night practicing on making the bones come out of every angle as fast as possible."

Danzo nodded in agreement. "Yes. You have done the right thing. If memory serves me correct in my old age, the kaguya could also fire finger bone bullets off at people so get the child to work on that as well. Whilst that is happening, I will send some ROOT shinobi to Kirigakure and get them to steal as many clan secrets about the kaguya clan as possible. He will still have to recreate whatever jutsu that are found but at least having the writing will make the boy be able to do it." Asuma was surprised. For someone like Danzo, that was definitely high praise. Out of all of the genin that Asuma had seen, he thought that Naruto was the best of the lot even if he was a little bias. The only contender for that title would be the Hyuga on Gai's team.

"Now tell me Asuma-kun, what have you told Naruto to do with his ability?"

"I've told him to keep it under wraps for the time being. If he needs to use it then by all means use it but don't advertise the fact you have it." Danzo nodded in agreement. It wasn't so much the threat of Kirigakure sanctioning a war with Konoha that worried the war hawk. Konoha was more than powerful to deal with that war torn state with ease if it came down to it. No it was the potential assassins / kidnappers that Danzo wanted to keep at bay.

He had protected Sarutobi's grandson on a few occasions and now it seemed that he was going to be doing that for Minato's son.

A promising shinobi like the brat could not die whatever ever the cost. Danzo knew he was getting old and knew that with Sarutobi and himself gone, there would only be one other shinobi amongst their ranks that could scare off the strongest ninjas and that was Jiraiya.

Whilst Kakashi and Gai were very good fighters, none of them had built up a reputation through the war to fend off an invasion with just their name. Also, neither of them were truly elite S-class shinobi. Gai definitely was but that was also a move that would hinder more than help the man.

That was why this upcoming generation was so important to Danzo. It had three shinobi that could be kage level shinobi if they had the right circumstances in front of them. Sasuke Uchiha, the Sarutobi's grandson and Minato's son. All three of them had the potential to be world class shinobi.

Now that Konoha had the dead bone pulse, Danzo had made it his own mission to give the boy everything he needed to become the best of the best. Konoha's survival at the top depended on it. It wouldn't hurt if from this training a potential Kage was born.

That was what Minato had sketched into to be originally. Danzo knew that the best thing that a shinobi village could have was stability in its leadership. Constant infighting would only weaken the village. Jiraiya would not be a good fit for the position regardless of his personality and desire for the job. No, they needed someone younger who could lead the village into prosperity for the better part of half a century just like Hiruzen had done.

And if he could help make whoever that shinobi just so happened to be of how the world worked, then the old war veteran knew he could die a happy and fulfilled life knowing that he had done his very best for the village he loved.

The two wise shinobi stayed talking with one another for a little while before Danzo had to go and attend to his position as head of the ANBU. Asuma nodded and headed out with the man. Once they were out in the fresh air, the two went their separate ways and Asuma went to go practice the information that the scroll on vacuum manipulation provided courtesy of his former sensei.

**x-X-x**

The next morning came and Naruto made his way to the training ground. He seriously hoped that he wouldn't be tasked with doing the same workout heck, or even a similar workout because that last one absolutely destroyed him. Asuma mentioned that today was going to be taijutsu focus today so whilst not specifically targeting muscles, they would no doubt get some activity thrown their way.

He even did what his sensei had told him in eat tons of meat and drink lots of milk and yet he was still sore all over. He hated to imagine what it would be like if he didn't do any of these things.

The upside of this though was that because of all of the milk, Naruto felt really strong. Naruto put it down to the calcium which he had been studying up on ever since he found out about his special ability.

Naruto was giddy. It had only been one day with having a proper sensei but he was already seeing far more results now than he ever did when training by himself. He couldn't wait to see where he was at in two to three months' time.

As he walked to his new home away from home which was training ground 10, Naruto had to take a double look. There was one of his teammates sitting down next to a tree and he had to admit that even though her best form of contraception was her personality, she still looked pretty good.

Ino meanwhile noticed this and couldn't help but externally smirk and internally giggle. The problem with going after a guy such as Sasuke Uchiha was the fact that you never got any form of reinforcement that you did indeed look good. Seeing the new guy (she hadn't even bothered to learn his name yet) look at her like that made the platinum blonde's confidence go even higher than it already was, not that she needed it or anything.

Now that she looked at the boy who was apparently a year older than herself, she noticed that he wasn't half bad. Obviously he was no Sasuke-kun but then again… who was? If he put some muscle on that bony frame of his, he would look pretty good. At the moment, he was average but Ino was sure that if she had some money to spend, she could make him look good.

Ever since the death of her brother from another mother Shikamaru, Ino had had an epiphany. Boys were no longer as important to her as what they once were. Sure she was still just as shallow and judged boys solely on their looks but she had higher priorities now.

Ino now wanted to focus on her career so that when she did have her downtime, she would be able to enjoy it in the company of all of her friends. She didn't want to see anyone that she cared about die like Shikamaru. The blonde haired girl had even taken it upon herself to spend a fair bit of time with Shikaku and learn as much as she possibly could from the man. Of course none of this was related to the shadow Jutsus that the clan was famous for around the world.

Ino simply had the opinion growing up that Shikaku was the smartest man in the world and she wanted to learn battle strategy from such a man. If she could be half as smart but twice as determined as Shikamaru, Ino deemed that she would consider it a success.

Not only had she asked Shikaku for help but Ino had gone straight to her father and demanded more intensive training on their clan's special Jutsus. If that wasn't enough to tell people that Ino Yamanaka was now taking her shinobi career seriously than the fact that she had quit her diet definitely did. She no longer solely ate soup and celery for her sole sources of nutritional content.

Thanks to the help of Chouza, Ino was now eating the right food for a growing kunoichi her age. The blonde was willing to gain a fair bit of fat if it meant that she was able to protect her friends. The funny thing was that Ino hadn't noticed a change on the scales.

Her father had simply told her that she was exercising a lot more and needed a substantial increase in the amount of fuel she was ingesting. What her mother had told her though was far more important as far as the girl was concerned.

Fat was very much important in the process of hormone development. It also helped keep your skin healthy and your hair shiny. Most importantly though, Fat was what gave your boobs mass. When she heard that, Ino was sold.

* * *

**Author's Note:** So most of this chapter was written during work hours where the custom dictionary in word is very meager. There could potentially be a few typo's in this chapter but hopefully that should be offset by the fact that chapters from now on should be a fair bit faster in terms of their release date! Also, If you have any ideas on how to use the kaguya bloodline, I am keen to hear what you have to say.


	3. ı'd just stare out my window

One month. That's how much time had passed since Naruto had joined Team Ten. Sure, his finances had been affected a bit with the fact that he was not going on as many missions as what he used to but the offset in the amount of training that he was getting in return more than made up for it.

"Come on Choji, is this the best that you have?" Naruto demanded as he launched a punch at the Akimichi clan member.

There was a look of confliction on the face of Choji as he didn't want to hurt his friends. Yes that was right, Naruto had his first friend since becoming a member of the team. Choji was a really nice boy as far as Naruto was concerned but he lacked the conviction in being able to carry through. There was no way that he would be able to get away with that in the field. "I don't to hurt you Naruto!" Choji replied.

Ever since the death of Shikamaru, Choji had been undecided on whether or not he wanted to be a ninja. The good thin about Naruto was that for the first time since his best friend left him to a better place, Naruto had not once asked him about Shikamaru. It was a respite that Choji was very grateful for. It allowed the Akimichi to be what he was, a boy.

Naruto was frustrated meanwhile. He wanted a proper opponent on his level. He wanted someone that he could fight against and not get utterly trounced which was what happened whenever he fought up against Asuma-sensei. It wasn't just that though for financially motivated ninja. He didn't want to see his friend choke up on a mission which could potentially cost his life or even worse. For the past month he had been trying his hardest to get Choji to come out of his shell and fight properly.

"No wonder Shikamaru died." The second that Naruto said this,you could hear a pin drop as everyone went completely silent. All three of them waited with baited breath to hear what naruto was going to say because what he had just said was something very hard to come back from.

"What did you just say!?" Choji shouted back at Naruto although his head was facing the water below. Asuma mused that unlike the other times that Choji got angry, this time he was completely calm about it but the man knew that Choji was about to burst. He couldn't wait to see how this went down. Choji was the type of person who pulled punches. That was something that he needed to stop as it could potentially cost either himself or an ally their life.

"You heard me!" a frustrated Naruto shouted out. "I said no wonder Shikamaru died when you so much of a coward that you won't even take your training seriously. You know that all this is going to do is make your friends die. I bet you would love to see the bitchy princess over there die as well. I bet you would be too scared to do anything to save her as well!" Naruto shouted.

_I may have just gone a bit overboard there...Oh well, what's the worst that could happen?_ Naruto thought to himself and that was when he saw a pissed off Choji stare into his eyes. _Oh shit..._

Choji wasn't the only one furious with what Naruto had just said. Ino hated what her new team mate had just said to her best male friend. She didn't even care about the bitchy princess comment as to her, that was more of a compliment rather than an insult. The fact that he insulted the memory of her brother in all but blood was tantamount to death in her eyes. Ino sped off the water at a fast towards naruto as she wanted to get in on the action and punch the shit stain in the face.

Choji had Choji had joined in by enlarging his hands and sprinted towards naruto. _Yeah... this is about to get ugly. _Naruto thought to himself as he had never fought two opponents at once. On instinct, Naruto brought his bloodline to the forefront and had some bones stick out of his skin. They weren't really there for offence but more so as a deterrent to the two team mates who wanted to kill him.

Thankfully for Naruto, The speed at which Ino fought at was not the same one that he did. She simply didn't have the same amount of muscle on her body as he did and this meant that Naruto was simply too fast for her to be able to deal with.

Ino knew this. This didn't deter the blonde haired girl as she had a plan. "Choji! Now!" Ino screamed and naruto barely had time to turn around and watch a fist collide right in his stomach. The only place that he had no bones sticking out. Naruto skidded a long the water. Not done with that, Choji quickly followed over to Naruto in an attempt to land another vicious punch on the person who dishonoured Shikamaru.

"This fight is over." Asuma stated whilst he was grinning. "Choji, that was amazing! You just need to channel that whilst your on a mission and you will easily defeat everyone." Asuma said as he stared at the murderous expression on the face of his pleasantly plump student.

As this was happening, Naruto was slowly picking himself out of the water as blood dribbled down his chin. "Finally Choji, that was what I wanted to see. Where has that been all this time? I've been trying to get you to do things like that for the past month." Naruto complimented his team mate as that punch had more strength behind it than one of Asuma's.

"What! All of this was some little game to you!? You're such an ass hole Naruto-teme!" Ino shouted out at her team mate only by title. She hated the fact that Naruto brought up Shikamaru to Choji. She hated to admit it but back during the academy, when Choji was getting bullied for being called fat, she definitely didn't do as much as she could to stand up for him. Shikamaru was that person for her brown haired friend and now that he was gone, Ino took it upon herself to be that person for Choji.

Sure, she could be the absolute most heinous bitch in existance but when it came to her family and friends than Ino was very loyal. She had even attempted to patch things up with Sakura recently but that went sour when the pink haired girl thought that Ino was doing this as an attempt to lull her into a false sense of security and then swoop in and take Sasuke-kun all for herself.

The truth was that Ino wasn't trying to do this and it made her realise just how childish she and Sakura had been when attempting to win Sasuke's heart. The truth was that the two of them hadn't been friends for a long period of time ever since Sakura decided that she also liked Sasuke after Ino had told Sakura about her crush on the young Uchiha.

It was then and there that Ino had decided that she was going to give Sakura one more chance in the future (She was not sure when) and if that backfired just like last time than she was going to throw in the towel in terms of trying to salvage a friendship out of Sakura.

The platinum blonde haired girl was blind sided when Choji spoke. "Thanks Naruto, I needed that. I've been trying to get over my emotions but today was the first time I went into a fight with the intent to kill and you're right. I did choke on our first mission but I promise I won't ever choke again on a mission!" Choji passionately stated to which naruto and Asuma had a look of respect on each of their respective faces.

Ino was different. "What! How can you thank him! He should be saying sorry for saying bad things about Shika!"

Choji chuckled and shook his head. "Guys can be friends after fighting unlike you and girls Ino. Once you fight someone, you hate them life." Choji hadn't really had much experience with lots of girls. He had just had experience with Ino and knew that she was very much known for holding grudges.

"Yeah, you just need to clean out your vag since you've been on shark week." Naruto commented from behind Ino. Said blonde haired girl rapidly turned around and stared at naruto in disgust!

"Eww! Go screw yourself you dirty pig!"

"That's enough you two." Asuma stated to which the three of them defferred to his command. They all knew that when he spoke, which wasn't often, that his word was law. Asuma couldn't help but be impressed at the transformation that had happened to his three students.

Out of the three of them, Choji was the one who had progressed the least but that was because he was the most finished product in terms of shinobi abilities in comparison two his two team mates. The only real thing that the brown haired boy needed was to become more confident in himself and to follow through with his punches.

That being said, Choji had gotten to the point where he could now fight whilst standing on water. For the boy who was the worst when it came to chakra control out of the three of them when they first started, this was something that made the boy proud of his accomplishments.

Not only had his strength improved but also his speed. The biggest difference between Naruto and Choji when they sparred was the fact that Naruto was a fair bit faster and could dodge the incoming attacks with relative ease. Choji quickly learnt that it didn't matter if he could knock someone out with one punch if he could never hit them with that one punch.

The faster speed in which he was able to move at was something that slightly trimmed the waist line. It was something that he hadn't really paid attention to but come a few more months and then he would realise that he had indeed lost a fair amount of weight.

Choji had come to terms with the fact that he was always going to be a bit bulky in comparison to other shinobi simply because of the way his clan's special ninjutsu worked. Speaking of his clan's ninjutsus, Choji had been improving a lot in that area thanks to the increase in both capacity and control of his chakra network.

His father had said that if he continued at the rate that he was going at, in a few months time he would be able to go and use the mid level techniques of the clan without any of the food pills. That was something that Choji was giddy about because he knew just how dangerous those things were and he didn't want to have to use them unless absolutely necessary. Having more techniques to fall back on would mean less chance of that.

Choji had even begun attempting to learn some basic doton ninjutsu as per the request of Asuma-sensei after they had tested what affinity he had. This was in case his opponent ever had some sort of counter manoeuvre against his clan jutsus. He had learnt one defensive and offensive move. Choji was at the point where he couldn't really learn any more doton ninjutsu by brute forcing the jutsu. He needed to start learning elemental manipulation if he wanted to make any more progress in that area.

Choji wasn't the only person who made some gains over the past month. Naruto too had made promising progress. As expected, the primary focus on Naruto's training was centred around his bloodline limit. Naruto spent the majority of the time attempting to create a taijutsu style from scratch.

Naruto had quickly learnt that the best places for him to create the bones was from his joints. This meant knees, elbows, palms and heels. They were the parts of the body where naruto could draw the most power from and connect with the most damage. His taijutsu mostly centred around keeping his kekkai genkai hidden until he got in striking range and then surprise people with it.

One of the benefits of this style of fighting meant that he constantly had his skin re-open all the time. This, in combination with the fact that he was the son of a jinchuuriki meant that Naruto's body had adapted to the recent changes and started healing Naruto faster than normal in comparison to other shinobi.

That wasn't the only positive going on inside of Naruto's body at the moment. The influx of calcium did to his body. He felt great in how the mineral affected his bones and made them that much stronger. This wasn't the only benefit that the milk provided as it was loaded with calories and protein and this excess of nutrients meant that Naruto had put on a bit of muscle so it didn't look like he was twig thin. It still looked like he was very skinny but that was because his bones were much larger than normal.

Still, this increase in muscle meant that Naruto was now faster and stronger. Not only that but his stamina increased as well. Initially, Asuma had pencilled Naruto and a mid ranged ninjutsu juggernaut. This was solely based on his lineage as having a Hokage and a jinchuuriki definitely meant that you would have higher chakra reserves than most other kids.

Now when the jonin looked at Naruto, he saw the boy being some kind of ninjutsu / taijutsu hybrid shinobi. The Yondaime Raikage seemed to make it work pretty well. In the space of a month, naruto had managed to learn the first stage of elemental manipulation where he had to start a fire on a very green leaf and then keep it from touching the edges of the leaf. Now for Naruto, the next step for the blonde haired boy was to do it with a dry, dead leaf. Eventually, the goal was to be able to do it with Styrofoam and then he would be delving into the realm of advanced katon manipulation.

What Naruto had noticed was that thanks to getting the elemental manipulation down pat, his was able to upgrade his C-rank ninjutsus into B-rank. It also meant that he didn't have to expend as much chakra compared to what he used to have to do to get the same result. It meant that naruto now effectively increased his stamina.

The blonde haired boy had even learnt a new jutsu completely from scratch. Admittedly it was by no means the final version of the jutsu but Naruto was proud with how far he had come with his bloodline. The jutsu that Naruto had recreated was the finer bullets that his sensei had told him about. The genin decided that he would fully perfect one bullet before moving onto the whole hand rather than just use all fingers but very poorly. He wanted the jutsu to be a trump card that people wouldn't expect.

But naruto wasn't the person who had improved the most in the space of a month due to the hectic training regime that Asuma had begun putting them through. That was a title solely reserved for Ino. To be fair though to the others, when you were starting from such an untrained position, it meant that she was able to get the most improvement in the same amount of time frame compared to her team mates. The more skilled you became, the more effort you had to put in to get the same or even less returns.

Ino now no longer was just an academy student. She was a proper genin in the eyes of not only her sensei but also her team mates. She took her profession seriously. She no longer did fad diets in the attempt of impressing a boy which affected her abilities as a shinobi. With her improved diet, Ino managed to build some muscle which not only made her faster, stronger, gave her more longevity and stamina in a fight but it also made her but firmer, boobs bigger, lose the flab under her arms tightened the her stomach up a bit. The little fat on her body had been converted into muscle and the blonde haired girl loved the changes it had done to her body. Not only did she still look good in her opinion but she had the power to back it up.

Not only had her physical attributes increased exponentially in the space of a month but Ino's chakra reserves had done so to. Just like Naruto and Choji, Ino was the last out of the group to now be able to spar on top of the water's surface. At the end of her one month training boot camp, Ino was now able to spar on top of the water's surface whilst using jutsus.

It wasn't just her clan's special ninjutsu that she was using either. Ino knew just how vulnerable she was since she wasn't as skilled as her father to stay conscious. That was why under the suggestion from her sensei, the Yamanaka girl had decided to branch out and start incorporating genjutsu into her little bag of tricks.

If all that wasn't enough than Ino put her keen mind to good use when she was spending time with Shikaku in terms of learning strategy. She knew that that was the best thing that Shikamaru had going for him and if she could be half as smart as he was, then she would be beyond happy.

Finally, the last area that Ino had decided to take an interest was in the area of poison. If she was honest to herself, the only reason why she had decided to study this area was because working at a plant shop got boring quickly. During her down time, Ino started reading up on what the most dangerous poison's were and which plants she had to mix to create them. At the moment she hadn't made any vials yet but she definitely planned to in the near future and tip her weapons with them to make them that much more potent.

**x-X-x**

"Hokage-sama, I request a mission for myself and my genin team." Asuma stated as he locked eyes with his father. There was a brief flash of concern in the eyes of the Sandaime Hokage as he knew that this was the first mission above a D-rank that Asuma and two of his students had take since the death of the Nara clan heir.

"Asuma-kun, you know that when it is is just us two, you don't have to be so formal. Now, are you certain you want to take a mission so soon? Are your students even ready for this?" The Hokage questioned to which Asuma nodded.

Sure, the two of them had been through a lot over the life of their relationship and there had been more than one disagreement along the way but Asuma valued the caring nature that his father still had for him. "Yes, it's finally time to get back on that horse as they say and as for the standard of my students, well I guess you will just have to wait until the upcoming chunin exams dad until you get to find out." Asuma said with a smirk pretty much taped onto his face.

Hiruzen liked to see the confidence on the face of his second born son. He couldn't help but be curious as to just how good his team must be for this much confidence to be showing. Asuma was normally the type of person to be quietly confident until he knew that he was going to win, then he would gloat so much.

Him gloating this much might now meant that he thought that he had already won. Just how strong had his team gotten in the past month? From what he could remember of the team selections two months ago, there was nothing special about the Yamanaka and the Akimichi. Sure, they were promising shinobi but they were nothing special. There was nothing that screamed out prodigy from when the team selections were made.

That just left Minato's son. Again, there was nothing in his file that screamed out that he was going to be close to what his father was capable of. Admittedly, he hadn't bothered seeing what the boy was like himself but that was mainly because he didn't care that much about the boy.

From what he had heard was that he passed the academy with the second best grades in the class behind Neji Hyuga but Kakashi failed him on his graduation test. Obviously there was something bad about the boy if Kakashi wasn't willing to take him then there had to be something wrong with the boy as he was certain that Kakashi would have taken him even if he wasn't up to standard just because of who the boy's father happened to be.

He hadn't heard of Naruto improving any bit since becoming a genin a little over a year ago. Just what had the boy learnt to be getting this much praise from his son?

"How good is Minato's son?" Hiruzen honestly questioned to his son. He didn't think that Naruto would be as good as Konohamaru or even Sasuke Uchiha. That wasn't even including the two boys that Gai had under his charge who were both very good in their own right.

"Well, let's just say that if there was a fight to the death between Naruto and Sasuke, well we would have to get Itachi somehow back in the village if we wanted to restore the Uchiha clan. If Naruto fought up against Konohamaru, well then you would have to order Jiraiya back to Konoha to seal the Kyubi once it is released." Asuma confidently stated.

"When the chunin exams come up, I'd bet your Hokage's pension fund on having my whole team make the final in the Colosseum and to see Naruto in the grand final. Even if I had Tsunade's betting luck, I would put money on it."

"That's a very big claim to make there Asuma-kun. Alright then, I will play this game with you and give you the C-ranked mission that you have requested and I am very much interested to see what Naruto can do during the chunin exams." If there was anything that described Hiruzen, it was that he was a patient man and he could easily wait until the upcoming chunin exams in Konoha to see just how good Minato's son.

Asuma merely smirked in response.

**x-X-x**

With a scroll in his hand, Asuma walked to the training ground 10. he was giddy and also nervous. Despite the facade of supreme confidence, Asuma was actually pretty hesitant. No matter his feelings, he knew that he had to do this because the longer he left it, the more psychological damage it would do. It was better to face your fears than wallow in the despondence.

"Hey kids, so you remember when I said that we were going to have a one month boot camp before we did anything mission related right? Well I have judged you three being over qualified for going on missions so guess what I have in my hands right here?"

Naruto was the first one to react out of the three as this was the first one that he had been on in three months. He was very much eager to test out his bloodline in a proper fight. "It's a C-rank mission. How much does it pay?" Naruto questioned to which Asuma looked at him weirdly for a second.

"Each of you will be getting $400 for the completion of this mission. It is an escort mission. There is a family going on holidays in the south of tea country. We will be taking them from the capital of Hi no Kuni to their destination. We will be leaving them and when they are leaving for the capital, another team will pick them up."

"Now, I want you three to go home and pack for a mission. I expect you to be at the main gates in half an hour. I will be checking your packs to make sure that you have everything that is needed." Asuma stated to which all three of the students nodded. Naruto's was immediate, Ino stalled for a bit before nodding and Choji was quite hesitant as it seemed to be getting cold feet.

"Go, we don't have time to waste." Asuma commanded which snapped Choji out of his state and made the boy head home to go and get prepared for the mission ahead. It worried Asuma when Naruto's first question was how much he was going to get paid doing this. It wasn't something that was that bad as every shinobi had some sort of motivation and as long as it was one that didn't affect the team than he was all for it. If it came out that Naruto was solely focused on money though, then it always opened the potential for someone to attempt to bribe his student.

_Oh well, that is something that we can work on at a later date. _Asuma thought to himself before he too went and packed the essentials for the mission.

**x-X-x**

Ino wasn't looking forward to this. She knew her mother had today off and knew what this meant. The second her mother realised that she had a mission to prepare for, it was on like Donkey Kong. Her mother had made no secret of her feelings in the matter regarding her shinobi career. Ever since the death of Shikamaru, she had pulled no punches when it came to whether or not Ino should continue her career as a shinobi.

The thing was that her mother had only started dating her father when he was transitioning from a field shinobi into the interrogation department. She didn't have to contend with the fact that someone she cared about could realistically die whilst on a mission.

When the death of Shikamaru on the exact same mission that Ino was on, well it rocked home for the civilian woman. She didn't want to imagine what would have happened if it had been her daughter who had taken the blow.

For the past month since the death of Shikamaru-kun, she had been pressurising Ino into dropping from the field and going into something like teaching. That way, she could still be a ninja without having to run the risk of potentially losing her life. AS far as the mother was concerned, this was a win-win situation for her daughter.

The worst part as far as Ino was concerned though was the fact that her father, a very good shinobi wasn't even aiding her. He was taking the side of a civilian, even if he happened to be married to said civilian.

Of course, Ino knew that both of her parents just wanted for her to be safe. It was just the fact that they had a really bad way of showing it as far as the platinum blonde haired girl was concerned.

Knowing that she had to say goodbye despite the tirade that she was going to get, Ino headed downstairs. "Mum! I'm going out on a mission, I won't be coming back until next week some time."

Ino didn't know how, didn't really want to know but somehow, her mother had managed to close the distance far faster than any shinobi ever thought possible."Really, you're going on a mission? What rank is it? Does your father know?" The rapid fire questions came at Ino and she attempted to answer them as best as she could.

"Yes mum, I am going on a mission, umm, I don't know, sensei never told us but I think it is a low c-rank mission. We aren't expecting any danger. Daddy doesn't know yet as I have yet to tell him. Can you please tell me for him mum?" Ino asked with a hopeful expression on her face.

The mother nodded. "I will do that but Ino, are you sure that you are ready to go on this mission? I know what you are going to say but just here your mother out. I don't want anything close to what happened to Shikamaru-kun to what happened to you. You're still so young, why don't you go and get a position as a teacher or be an assistant to the Hokage?"

Ino was taking in her mother's words until she heard that last part! She was no one's assistant! "Mum! We're not going to die! We're much stronger as a team now than what we were a month ago and even more than that, our new guy as much as I don't like to admit it, is about as strong as me and Choji combined. He is much stronger than what Shika-kun was."

this brought a giggle to the normally reserved woman. "Oh so you're new team mate is a boy hmm, is he cute?"

"Mum!" Ino shouted as she had a scandalised look on her face. There were two people in the world that she did not want to speak to boys about and one of them happened to be who she was talking to at that very point in time. "I don't want to talk about it. I suppose if you have to have an answer, he's alright but he's no Sasuke-kun."

She looked amused and raised a single eyebrow when she heard this. Out of everyone boy related that Ino had talked about, no one had even registered on her radar outside of that Sasuke boy. To think that there could potentially be a new love interest definitely piqued the curiosity of Ino's mother. She thought that it would do Ino good since that Sasuke child never seemed at all interested in women from what she had heard through the grapevine.

"I just want you to be ultra safe honey. Promise me that you will come home with nothing permanent done to you." She worriedly stated as she looked into the eyes of her daughter for any sign of nervousness.

It was a stark contrast to what she looked like a month ago before her first mission. Ino now looked like she had real confidence rather than just faking it until you made it. As much as she didn't like it, she knew that her daughter was ready to go on the mission, even if she was heavily against the idea.

"I promise mummy. Now I have to go otherwise I will be late!" Ino said before giving her mum a hug and a peck on the cheek. With all the pleasantries said, the blonde hiared girl left on her mission, praying that it didn't end like the last one with her having to deliver a body to the morgue.

**x-X-x**

Half an hour later and the four shinobi had made their way to the front gate of Konoha. "Alright kiddies, it's mission time so let's get cracking. Naruto and Ino were excited as this was a change from the norm but Choji couldn't help but feel something bad was going to happen.

The quartet of shinobi headed out of the village for their first mission since the death of Shikamaru. As expected, the journey from Konoha to the capital was routine, if not boring. When they got to the capital, Tokyo however, that was a different story. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw how many insanely tall buildings he saw. He could imagine just how much money was on offer in this city.

The quartet walked into the city without having to go through any of the guards thanks to a simple bit of clothing that Asuma wore. Whenever anyone recognised that, they knew not to annoy the ninja.

Asuma took a quick look at the location on the scroll and headed towards the destination with his three students following shortly behind him. Once they got there, Naruto and Co were greeted with the sight of a mansion. Naruto's eyes widened as he realised that just from the outside, this was the type of house that he envisioned himself living in in the near future.

With reduction in missions that Naruto had been taking since he was training with his team, he hadn't been able to save any money. Sure, he hadn't lost any but he hadn't gained any! He definitely hoped that that was about to change soon because he wasn't satisfied with mediocrity.

Naruto was broken out of his trance when he heard the voice of his sensei. "Hi there, my name is Asuma and I will be the Jonin leading you on the mission that you have requested. These three shinobi here are my students Chouji, Ino and Naruto." As the man said this, he pointed to each of his students respectively.

Ino in particular made it known to bow whilst Choji slightly nodded his head. Naruto wasn't used to situations like this so he didn't really know what to do. This was something that annoyed the client as he was a man who had worked hard for his position as a board member for some company. To see no respect at all from this kid was something that he was not pleased with at all. He was going to say something until he happened to see the sash that was on the sensei's waist.

Asuma saw this and nodded. It told the man that he was in perfectly capable hands. The civilian relaxed as he knew that his holiday down to the south of tea country was going to go according to plan.

The board member went back into his house as the quartet of shinobi followed him. When they got to the back yard, they spotted the rest of the family. There was his wife and a year and half old baby. Ino's heart melted when she saw just how cute the baby was. Naruto for his part couldn't help but feel slightly jealous. Not only did this kid get a set of functional parents but judging from the fact that he assumed the baby was an only child, it was going to get spoilt rotten.

He wished he had that when he was a kid.

"Honey, the shinobi are here so we have to go now." The man stated to his wife who turned her attention from the baby for a second to nod at her husband.

"Before we go, can I please get one of you to seal our belongings into those scrolls? As per the instructions, we have laid everything down on the ground and now just need some of that chakra stuff to store these." The man said. Despite the fact that he was a civilian, he had spent a fair bit of time around shinobi to know how these worked even if he himself couldn't use them.

Ino took the initiative and bent down to seal the luggage all into three scrolls which were then placed into a small carry bag. After everything was sorted and the house was locked, the group of both shinobi and civilians was on the road.

"So, Asuma-san, how long do you expect this to take?" The board member questioned to which the smoker thought about it for a second.

"It should only take about 5 days' worth of travel time but since there is a baby, we might have some unexpected time delays." Asuma responded to which the man nodded.

**x-X-x**

"Well that was fairly uneventful if I do say so myself." Naruto commented as the four shinobi made their way back from Tea Country with having completed a successful mission. Sure, a completed mission was the exact same regardless of whether or not there was any form of confrontation. It all went to his mission record which at the moment stood at a perfect 100% and he didn't plan on screwing that up any time soon. He was certain that when it came to the higher ranked missions, people would go off your history. Naruto wanted all options available for when he became a chunin.

What Naruto didn't know was that he'd get whatever mission was given to him regardless.

"Kid, you will quickly learn that a mission without conflict is a good thing and you should treasure it." Asuma said after taking a drag from his cigarette. "You don't want to see death if you can avoid it as nothing good comes from it." Asuma wisely stated.

Both Ino and Choji nodded in agreement of this as they had seen firsthand just how bad it could be. Naruto on the other hand was slightly different. He had made his first kill before but he hadn't ever had someone close to him die on the front lines. That was potentially due to the fact that he never really had anyone close to him in the first place but that was not the point…

"I know that Sensei, it's just going on missions is the most fun that I get to have. Nothing beats the adrenaline rush you get when you are in a fight." Naruto responded to the comments of his sensei.

"That's because that feeling is called bloodlust. Don't let it overcome you. Maybe you should try finding a hobby to occupy yourself during your downtime." Asuma stated to which Naruto seemed to consider the idea.

A hobby sounded pretty good for when he was done training at the end of the day.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

I would just like to say thanks to LCF for an idea that he suggested to me which was something that I had never thought of before. I am not going to tell you what the idea is until i reveal it at a later point in time.

At the moment, I am using my desktop computer to write these chapters on which is not as productive as I like. My parents went on holiday and requested if they could borrow my laptop to which I said yes so unfortunately, I have to type on my gaming PC which isn't as user friendly for creating 6,000 word long documents. Once my parents get back from New Zealand, I will not only be able to type that little bit faster but also, it will be of slightly higher quality. On my gaming PC i am currently using Open Office which isn't as friendly as what word is but i guess I will just have to wait.

Also, reviews are a damn good form of motivation for me to get the next chapter out that little bit quicker :)


	4. Dreaming of what could be

Ino closed her eyes waiting for the final blow. The mission that she was on was one that had tested her to her absolute limits at the moment. She was hungry, sleep deprived, wounded just about out of chakra.

To her surprise, it didn't happen. Instead Ino had had head smack into the hard ground below. She looked up much to her horror and noticed that once again, she had had to be saved by one of her team mates. Fear welled up in body and tears started forming in her eyes. Naruto had taken the kunai that was aimed directly at her face with his shoulder.

"Ahh! Naruto shouted as he felt the pain of the weapon pierce his skin. Naruto was much in the same position as Ino was. The only thing that was driving him on at this point was sheer willpower alone. Up until this point, he had a perfect mission record and he wanted to keep it that way. It wasn't just that though, Naruto didn't want to see his team mates get killed. He had come from an upbringing that didn't have many friends. The closest person who he could call his friend during the academy was Rock Lee but ever since he had become a genin under the tutelage of the guy who needed a pair of large glasses with a fake nose attached to them to go with the cheap disguise he had going on with the eyebrows.

Despite the fact that he and Ino weren't on the best of terms to say the least, she was still important to him. Naruto thought he was just at the point where he was making progress and in the near future, he might be able to make what he would call proper friends. He didn't want to lose them.

"Come on! Ino we have to get up and help Choji!" Naruto said as his will alone pulled him off the ground. Ino quickly followed Naruto when she heard the name of her other team mate.

"Hahaha, you three genin are nothing against us chunin." The Kumogakure man stated which only served to infuriate Naruto that much more. Naruto was cursing himself as he didn't know what to do. He had tried everything that he could think of without using his bloodline. Naruto knew that wasn't supposed to use it but at this point, he couldn't think of anything else that he could do.

The blonde haired genin pointed his right hand at the enemy. "Go Tenshi Sendan! (Five Finger Drilling Bullets). Naruto called out and fired all five of the bones at the cocky chunin from Kumogakure who thought that the fight had already been won.

Said Kumo ninja didn't know what jutsu Naruto had just used but wasn't willing to find out how much damage it did. He was surprised at the speed in which the bullets or whatever they were flew at him and since there were five of them, it was very hard to dodge them. Unfortunately for the Kumo shinobi, one of the bullets hit him. He very much hoped that his chunin flak jacket would save him but it didn't.

The bullet tore through the piece of clothing and exited out the other side of his chest cavity. The chunin instantly dropped. Wheezing sounds came from the man as he panicked and struggled to get any form or air into his damaged lungs.

Rage filled the eyes of the chunin's team mates. They didn't think that some fresh minted genin could create such a destructive jutsu. They watched how their comrade dropped down to the ground and they decided right then and there that play time was over. It was time for them to kill these genin right now so that they could go and help their team leader against the konoha jonin.

Naruto was still very much in pain from the kunai wound to his shoulder got up and did his best to protect his two team mates. Choji was already in the land of sleep after having gotten knocked out from the taijutsu user of the group. He put up a brave front but he wasn't sure how this was going to go down as the chunin outclassed him in every way.

"Naruto move!" Ino shouted as she went through some hand signs right behind Naruto. The chunin was rushing towards Naruto and at the last second, Naruto dodged which opened up the direct line from Ino to the chunin. The blonde haired girl didn't waste any time as she launched her clan's signature jutsu at the enemy.

The blonde haired girl's body slackened and Naruto did his best to catch the body before it fell face first into the ground. Thankfully for the duo, this did not happen as with a team mate like Ino, Naruto knew that he would never hear the end of it.

"Naruto fire off that jutsu again and I will exit the body when it is too late for him to dodge." Ino shouted as she didn't think that she had enough time to waste in this body. The genin nodded when he heard Ino say this and brought his hand up to fire off the ninjutsu. Before he could successfully do this though, someone punched Naruto right in the jawbone which sent him flying.

It was not lost for the genin of konohagakure though as mid air, whilst still holding the body of Ino in the other hand, Naruto managed to fire off the finger bullets once more. Naruto fell to the ground as he fired off the jutsu. He didn't even have time to see whether or not his jutsu connected with the enemy as there was a bolt of lightning coming his way.

Naruto scrambled up whilst holding the body of Ino and just barely managed to dodge the incoming attack. The blonde haired boy made bones come out around his arm and the genin used this to block the incoming attack.

"Fuuton: Shinkugyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!" A voice shouted out and much to the relief one genin shinobi, the final enemy that he had been up against was now dead. "It looked like you three could use a hand over here." A new voice stated to which Asuma grinned as he pulled out a cigarette and started smoking it.

"I would hate the fact that you are being so calm about this if it wasn't for you having just saved our lives sensei." Naruto dryly commented as he struggled to stand.

"But that would ruin the cool guy image that I have going on right now." Asuma replied back tongue in cheek.

"You know Naruto, you can put me down now." A distinctly feminine voice stated to which Naruto looked at the girl in his arms. Looking back on this moment, Naruto would have noticed this as the first time that Ino had called him something other than Naruto-baka.

"Nah... I don't think I will. You're much quieter now than what you normally are." Naruto replied with a bit of a grin on his face. To be honest, he didn't think much of his comment as he was relieved that the mission was over and that they could call it a success. Ino on the other hand...

"Oh, I see how it is Goldilocks. You just want an excuse to put your hands all over sweet and innocent Ino-chan's body. I mean, I can't say that I blame you but next time try and use some discretion." There was a smirk on the face of Ino's face as she felt Naruto's body lock up.

One thing that the platinum blonde haired girl had indeed noticed was the fact that one Naruto Uzumaki wasn't as oblivious to the opposite sex as say Sasuke Uchiha. She had seen him stare at her a few times which made her self esteem sky rocket. When you were interested in a boy that never gave you the time of day, having someone else validate your appearance was definitely welcoming.

Up until now, Ino had never bothered to do anything about it. She didn't particularly like Naruto if she was honest with herself after the way he said those mean things to Choji. After having realised that it was just to get him out of his shell and to take fighting seriously, Ino had decided to give him a second chance, not that Naruto knew of this of course.

With her team mate having saved her like a knight in shining armour rescuing the damsel in distress, Ino thought that she should make up for lost ground and introduce Naruto to her wonderful personality.

Naruto, for his part went rigid very quickly. Up until this point in his life, he had never really dealt with the opposite sex in a way that was anything other than platonic. The sexual undertones of what he had just heard were a completely different kettle of fish as far as the genin was concerned.

Naruto immediately let go of the girl in his arms who gracefully stood beside her saviour.

Seeing the positive reaction that she had gotten from that simple comment, Ino wandered just how far she could take this. A smirk appeared on the Yamanaka's face. "Thank you for saving me Naruto-kun." As Ino finished saying this, she gave Naruto a slightly longer than normal kiss on the cheek just to see what reaction he would give.

A definite blush appeared on the face of Naruto as he didn't know what to do. Ino giggled at the reaction that Naruto gave as did Asuma before the jonin spoke up. "Ino, I think you have tormented Naruto enough today so how about you go and wake Choji up." Asuma stated to which the blonde haired girl nodded and skipped over to where her downed comrade was.

She felt bad for how she should have gone to the aid of Choji the second that the fight was over but this new game that she had of teasing Naruto was something that was just too much damn fun!

**x-X-x**

"I'm very proud of the way how you three handled yourself on that mission. They weren't just freshly minted chunin. From what I saw, they were bordering on special jonin. You guys handled yourself really well." Asuma stated to which two of his students smiled at the praise. Naruto wasn't one of them.

"Yeah but we got utterly trounced. The only reason why we stayed in that fight was because they weren't taking us seriously. The only reason we are alive is because they got too cocky!" Naruto said with anger. He hated the feeling of being inadequate. He wanted to be a somebody rather than a nobody.

Asuma frowned. "Naruto, you're only a genin, you can't expect to be fighting up against people like that when you are only 13. Those chunin you three were fighting were at least 20 years old so they had a lot more time to get stronger than you but jus between us four, I think that you guys will be jonin before you hit 20.

Hearing that calmed Naruto somewhat. "Look Naruto, the chunin exams are coming up in a month's time. When we get back to konoha, we will have another boot camp and I will sign you three guys up to participate in them. How does that sound, that way you can see just how good you really are against people in your own age group? I know for certain that Gai is enrolling his team so you get to go up against Tenten, Lee and Neji." Asuma offered to which Naruto grinned. He hadn't seen those two since the academy. He knew that they were definitely both going to be formidable opponents but he was confident that he could defeat them.

"Really! We get to go into the chunin exams!?" Ino excitedly questioned to which Asuma nodded. "Yay! Isn't that great Choji-kun?"

There was silence a bit before some mumbling. "You weren't the one that got knocked out in the last fight. Those guys were really strong." Confidence was always an issue for the Akimichi clan heir.

Ino was appalled by this apparent lack of confidence. "Come on Choji! Those guys as Asuma-sensei stated were special jonin. Now, I don't know about you but I don't imagine many other of the people we graduated with would even have the balls to go up against that. After that, fighting other genin would be a piece of cake. Come on Choji, you're really strong!"

There was a shy smile on the face of Choji. "Thanks for that Ino-chan, this means a lot."

"Hey, that's what friends are for am I right or what?" Ino replied back with a big grin on her face as she gave a one armed hug to her longest friend. One party couldn't but watch this interaction and feel jealous. He knew that they weren't doing anything intentionally to annoy him but when you grew up as an orphan with nothing but the clothes covering your skin, Naruto wanted that almost familial sense that his two team mates shared with one another.

"Come on kids, let's head back home." Asuma said and the group picked up their weapons and headed back to the village hidden in the leaf.

**x-X-x**

"What! You were on an A-ranked mission as a genin and Choji was knocked out!? Wait until I get my hands on that Asuma!" Choji's mother shouted out after she had just heard some information from Ino.

"Mum, it wasn't like that. We were on a mission to protect this guy's livestock of sheep before it went to auction. One of his competitors who was really rich hired some people to take out all of his stock so that he would be forced out of business. Asuma-sensei deal with his opponent the jonin and then helped us." Choji stated in an attempt to stop his mother from poisoning his food when the man next came over. He liked Asuma-sensei.

"Still! You said that Asuma thought that they were chunin bordering on special jonin, how did you manage to survive that, not that I don't think you two are good but that is a different level." The normally calm and reserved woman that was Ino's mother questioned. When it was her daughter's safety in question, all sense of poshness went out the window.

"Well our new team mate Naruto-san is very good. He's better than me and Choji but that's because he graduated last year and has an extra year on us." Ino quickly stated. A little too quickly.

"Oh, is that the new person who you thought was cute?" A probing questioned was directed towards Ino who blushed in embarrassment. This was news to both Choji and his mother. Obviously there was something that hadn't been shared between the two mothers.

Scandalized, Ino responded. "I did not say that mum! All I said was that he wasn't unattractive. I mean where do you get these weird crackpot theories?" The Yamanaka Girl questioned as she pushed some of her hair behind her head. As this was happening, Choji was looking at the girl with an amused expression on his face.

"Hey Ino, why haven't you told them about he was your knight in shining armour and took a kunai which was aimed directly at your face?" The Akimichi attempted to question with his best attempt of an innocent expression on display.

The blush that was on the face of Ino only intensified as she heard this. "I am so going to kill you after this." The girl mumbled under her breath. Choji merely chuckled. He knew that he was never going to hear the end of this but it didn't matter as far as he was concerned. He was definitely going to enjoy this.

"But that coming from you must mean something after all, you never say anything remotely positive about any boy's appearance other than that Sasuke kid. Well I guess we shall invite him over to have dinner with us. I want to see the boy who is going on missions with my son. You two and Inoichi are more than welcome to come over as well as I am sure you willing to meet Ino's new crush." The smirk that was on the face couldn't be removed.

Whilst the trio of the Ino-Shika-Cho was famous as they had spent a long time together, the wives of the each respective male had spent a significant time together as well. It was so much so that the children felt comfortable calling their friends' mum and dad aunt and uncle. This was why Choji's mother was just as interested in finding out about her god daughter's potential boyfriend as the girl's mother was.

For the first time in a long time, Ino was scared for a situation that had nothing to do with shinobi.

**x-X-x**

As his two team mates were celebrating the fact that they were alive with their team mates, Naruto was not. Instead he was at the training ground refining his skills to become a better shinobi. The last mission that he had been on was a real eye opener for Naruto. It was the first ever mission that he had been completely out skilled. Every other mission he had been on was one that went according to plan in terms of the mission rank. Most of his missions had been up against bandits where he had the upper hand.

That feeling of helplessness he felt in knowing that his friend was knocked out and there was nothing that he could do. The only reason why they were alive was because the enemy didn't take them seriously. Naruto knew that one day, there would be someone that wouldn't care if he was a genin or not. They would simply just kill him.

That was not an option for Naruto as he didn't plan on dying anytime soon. There were still so many things that he planned on doing before that happened. In no particular order of completion, Naruto wanted to find out who his parents were, start a family, become someone famous, make some good friends and become a damn strong shinobi.

Ever since Naruto had realised just how much of a difference there was between himself and the chunin, Naruto assumed that there was just as much difference between those chunin and Asuma-sensei. To go one step further, Naruto assumed the gulf in class between the Sandaime and Asuma was even greater. He wanted to be at that level, the top of the food chain.

The only people that Naruto had ever heard of who ever got that sort of skill bracket were the genius kids who came from privileged backgrounds. He wanted to prove to the world that you didn't need to be some kind of spoilt piece of shit to be able to be a mad cunt. There was a small amount of irony in that his two team mates were the definition of what he didn't like.

Unfortunately for Naruto, he was at a bit of a snag in terms of his progression as a shinobi. He had learnt all of the C-ranked fire ninjutsus at the library, learnt the basic elemental manipulation training and his taijutsu was something that was very hard to learn since he essentially had to create his own fighting style which was no easy feat.

Because Naruto had a bloodline limit that no one else in konoha knew anything about or had any scrolls on, it made the progression damn fun… This forced the blonde haired boy to create every single jutsu his bloodline could be used for. Unfortunately for Naruto, he was not the genius type of shinobi. He was the brute force type where he would pour tons of effort to learn something that he couldn't get fairly regularly. He wasn't all that smart. He was just very had working and that meant he found it hard to create ideas on what to use his bloodline for outside of just regular taijutsu and firing off his finger bullets. Sure, he definitely wasn't against the fact that he had but in comparison to what some other bloodlines like say the sharingan did, it was a bit lacklustre Naruto thought.

**x-X-x**

The trio of shinobi were standing in front of the gates to a place that they never thought that they would return to. For Naruto, he hadn't been to the place in just under a year and a half. For the other two, it was slightly more recent.

"So, who do you think are the people that we should be watching out for in these exams?" Naruto questioned to his two team mates.

Ino was busy filing her nails in an attempt to not give off how anxious / nervous she was about these exams. "Well I heard from Sakura that there is some team from Suna which are really strong. Apparently they only backed off when Sasuke-kun showed up to save the day." Ino said with a grin on her face. What Ino wasn't saying was that she had also attempted to pair up the differences between herself and Sakura. Unfortunately for the blonde haired girl, her former friend didn't see it that way and still saw it as some form of trap to get Sasuke for herself.

Ino decided that she wasn't going to ruin a friendship for a boy but as she looked back on the situation, it had been a very long time since Sakura and herself could call one another friends. The blonde made the executive call that if Sakura wanted to repair the friendship, the ownership was on her.

"Alright, so be careful of those guys. To be fair though, from what you've described, the only real person of worth on that team is the Uchiha and that's just because Ino rides his willy all the time." Choji chuckled at Naruto's comment.

Ino didn't appreciate anywhere near as much as she was not like Sakura at all, she had some pride. "I bet you would prefer it if I was riding someone else's willy don't you Naruto-kun?" the Yamanaka girl stated with a suggestive tone of voice as she gave Naruto a hug from behind.

Naruto went ramrod still. He didn't know how to react but if they were gauging it based on Naruto's bodily reactions, but he thought that he would fail judging by the rush of blood downwards. As this was happening, Choji watched on with wide eyes. He didn't have the stones to speak up at this moment.

"Yeah, that's what I thought Naruto so shut up." Ino stated as she got off Naruto and flicked her bang of hair as she straightened her posture.

"W-w-w-what was… Ahhh screw it. Women are crazy." Naruto mumbled as he tried to comprehend what had just happened. Choji nodded in agreement with what Naruto had to say regarding the matter.

The trio of chunin hopefuls headed into the academy and they noticed a large group of shinobi who were standing around a door. Now Naruto might not have been the best when it came to genjutsu but he was pretty decent at detecting them. Naruto looked to confirmation from the resident genjutsu practitioner for her approval. She nodded.

"They must be trying to weed out all of the really bad people." Chouji whispered to which Naruto and Ino both nodded.

"Yeah, let's go stand in the background and watch to see what happens." Ino stated as if her word was law. Naruto didn't agree with this opinion but since they went by a majority rules vote, he had to abide by it as Choji agreed with Ino. Naruto wanted to walk in and start taking names as he wanted to make a name for himself.

It was then that Naruto saw Lee who was trying to convince the two guards that he was very weak. Naruto didn't buy it for a second. From what he had heard, Lee had managed to get a sensei who was just as strong as Kakashi but he was taijutsu focused. Considering the only thing that Lee could use was taijutsu. That was a match made in heaven as far he was concerned. That coupled with Lee's insane work ethic made Naruto think that this was act was completely full of shit.

Still, Naruto was curious to see as to how it would turn out before he made any judgement calls. The blonde haired boy didn't have to wait much longer as in came he tea that he couldn't stop hearing about from Ino. It was Team Seven. The only one in the group that looked like a proper ninja was the Uchiha and even that was a stretch as far as he was concerned.

The girl that was apparently Ino's rival looked pathetic. She looked so weak that he was surprised she passed the academy. _Really, this is what Ino compares herself to? She's much better than this pink haired girl and why in the blue hell does that rudy poo wear such a long scarf? That is surely going to get him killed one day. _Naruto thought to himself as he noticed who must have been the Sandaime's grandson.

When Naruto found out that the boy was the nephew of Asuma, Naruto decided that he wanted to find out more about the boy and to see where he stacked up against the genin. Konohamaru was someone who had special private tutoring from a young age whereas Naruto had nothing, he had to earn everything bit of progress that he had made. He wanted to see just how much of a difference having a privileged upbringing did in terms of your shinobi career.

_Yeah… called it _Naruto thought to himself as he watched Rock Lee move at a speed that he could just about keep up with. Naruto watched in amusement at the look of shock on both of the people attempting to hurt one another about the sudden inclusion of Lee.

It was here where Naruto decided to step in. He had had far too much of sitting on the side lines as far as he was concerned. Plus, he hadn't seen these people in a long time and he wanted to see them.

"You know Neji, I thought that they taught you better at the academy. That's the Uchiha fan on the back of his shirt so he must Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto said loud enough that the attention was drawn to him as he entered the conversation.

Everyone turned around and noticed the blonde haired boy. "Naruto, it's good to see you again. I thought that you stuck without a sensei and a team, how were you allowed to enter?" Sure he may have been right but Neji had a way with words that only socially inept people could match.

"Neji…that's uncalled for you piece of shit. I figured out that faggot's test right from the start but my so called team mates failed so I had to become a genin without a sensei and wait for a free spot to open up." Naruto said with an annoyed expression on his face. His graduation wasn't his fault.

"Then I am sure that you would like to know just who this team's sensei is then Naruto. Their sensei is Kakashi Hatake."

Naruto's attention rocketed from the three genin that made up team seven and directed it straight at Neji with a glare on his face. "What did you say!? As if their sensei is Kakashi-teme. As if these three are his students, they all look like shit. I don't believe you."

There was the slightest of smirks on the face of Neji before he turned to Team Seven. "They're here now, why don't you ask them yourself Naruto."

Konohamaru, not realising what this guy was so angry about but taking offense to the fact that this guy called him shit, spoke up. "Yeah, Kakashi is our sensei. You couldn't even pass Kakashi-sensei's test. Look who the loser is now huh."

Naruto gave the kid a year younger than himself a very pointed glare. "You're very lucky that I don't want to disrupt my chances of becoming a chunin or you would be on the ground as a broken pile of bones."

"Hey! Watch who you're talking to! Don't you know that he's the grandson of the Sandaime Hokage?" Sakura shouted out in return as she didn't like anyone insulting her team mates unless that person was her self.

Naruto looked at the girl from head to toe in the most blatantly obvious way. He didn't care if she noticed. Sakura for her part felt uncomfortable with the way that this person who hadn't even introduced themselves was looking at her. "You're the trashiest of your whole team. You wouldn't even be able to help your team mates if I decided to fight them.

"Hey!" Konohamaru shouted as he pointed his finger right in the face of Naruto. "I dare you one more time to say that to her and I will punch your lights out!"

"Pfftt, I don't need to do that. The only person from your team that I was interested in seeing how good they were has just gone and decided to fight Lee. It should be interesting to see how much time it takes Lee to defeat Sasuke." Naruto stated before using the shunshin to where he had seen Sasuke and Lee walk.

This left Sasuke's two team mates rapidly chasing after Sasuke to see what all the commotion was about. They arrived in time to see Sasuke with his sharingan activated getting launched into the air with a right footed super kick straight to the face. Lee followed this up by undoing the bandages around his wrists and jumped into the air chasing after his opponent.

That was until something pinned one of the bandages to one of the walls of the building. _What the hell was that!? I didn't even see it. _Naruto thought to himself but the scary thing for him was the fact that apparently Lee did which meant that the boy was obviously hiding his skills. Naruto was content with what he had seen before hand as he knew that he could keep up with that speed but if Lee was hiding even more speed than Naruto knew that Lee was going to be a real tough opponent.

Now, Naruto knew that the shinobi world was home to some unique characters, him with his bloodline being one of them but he didn't expect to see a talking turtle. It was a surprise but then Naruto eventually realised that it was a summon animal. That made it seem nowhere as special. Naruto was the only one who figured this out as the Sandaime's spoilt brat had not. He thought that the turtle was the team's sensei…

_Wow… This guy._ Naruto didn't know where this guy got his fashion sense from but if was definitely unique that's for sure.

After a sight that Naruto would never wish on his worst enemy, Gai brought his attention to the three genin down on the floor. "Hey, how's Kakashi doing?"

The trio looked at each other for a second. "Wait, how do you know Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura questioned to which Gai smirked and then with a display of speed which shocked not only team seven but also Naruto who was watching on in attendance.

"Some people call us eternal rivals but I'm winning 50-49. I'm stronger than Kakashi. Now go along, the chunin exams are about to start soon and I don't want any Konoha genin missing the chance." Gai said to which Lee left the second he heard the order.

When he jumped up to the stands, he noticed a familiar person which brought a smile to his face. "Naruto-kun, it is so good to see you again! If you're here for the chunin exams then I can't wait to test my youthful abilities against you as well as Neji-kun!"

Naruto grinned. Despite his eccentric displays on occasion, Lee was a very nice person and a friend for Naruto. "Well I want to take out Neji almost as much as you do so if the two of us meet in the finals before you meet Neji, then I can't make any promises." Naruto grinned to which Lee nodded. He wouldn't have it any other way.

"Oh and also Lee, if the two of us fight, don't hold back against me like what you did with Sasuke down there. I'd be very insulted." Naruto purposefully said this loud enough so that the three that made up Team Seven easily heard him. There was a small amount of satisfaction when he noticed how each of the shinobi down below besides Gai had their eyes widen.

"Now, let's go meet up with our teams." Naruto stated to which Lee nodded with a grin on his face. With Naruto being here, these exams just became that much more interesting.

_So that's the kid that Asuma has been raving about. It's a shame I didn't get to see how skilled he is. I wonder if he can back up all the talking that Asuma did for him._

**x-X-x**

"Yosh! I just had the pleasure of watching two youthful genin spar just then." Gai stated as he entered the room. When they saw the grin on his face, they knew that whoever the other person was that was sparring lost to one of his students. They could also tell that whoever had lost was potentially one of their students.

"Alright come on Gai, spit it out. Who was it that was fighting." Asuma was the first to cave in and ask the question. Although a fair few of the jonin in the room were attempting to appear as if they were not paying attention but everyone was. They wanted to have an ego boost of hearing that their teaching methods were better than the other jonin's. It was bragging rights.

"My Rock Lee has defeated Kakashi's Sasuke Uchiha!" Gai boldly proclaimed to knowing just what kind of reaction this would create. Murmurs started appearing everywhere as they thought that the Uchiha was going to be one of the favourites for the whole title. To hear that someone like Sasuke had lost to the dead last of the year above said a lot without many words being spoken.

Kakashi attempted to be as nonchalant as possible but there was a slight twitch in the single visible eyebrow that Gai gained great enjoyment from.

"That's nice and all Gai but that doesn't really mean much. What happens before the exams doesn't matter all that really matters is how much money you guys are going to be paying me when my team destroys everyone." Asuma said with a cocky grin on his face. He knew that this was a bold claim to make but he was confident that his team could win him some money.

"What do you mean Asuma, you had a massive fan girl, a boy doesn't have the confidence to fight properly and not to mention someone who couldn't even pass the genin team exams on their first go." She didn't mean to be rude to her long-time friend but Kurenai was just stating facts. She thought that Asuma's team was the weakest out of the rookie teams.

Asuma noticed that one particular jonin shinobi was paying keen attention to what he had to say. _So obviously there is more to the story… that's good. I didn't think he would do it because Naruto was a bad shinobi. _Asuma thought as he liked to give Kakashi the benefit of the doubt.

"Just you wait Kurenai-chan. You better have Tsunade here for the exams because any genin who is dumb enough to fight Naruto in a taijutsu battle will die." Once again that was a very bold claim to make from the Sarutobi but he knew a lot about Naruto that they didn't know.

A small smile appeared underneath the mask of Kakashi. He was happy that someone was saying that about Naruto. It meant the boy was very strong, far stronger than what he would have been with himself.

Everyone took note of a statement like that especially Gai. He wanted to find out what was so darn special about that kid that Lee was talking to. From what he saw, the kid didn't look like anything special. He had a fair bit of muscle but not as much as Lee.

The chunin exams just got that more interesting. A grin appeared on the face of the Green Beast.

"So who's willing to put their money with their mouth is?" Asuma spoke loudly to which multiple jonin started walking towards him. _Come on Naruto, you better not screw this up or I'm going to look like the biggest laughing stock!_

* * *

**Author's Note**

So this chapter went pretty much as expected. I was tempted to put the first exam in this chapter but decided against it. It would have made the chapter a bit too long I feel.

On a side note, do you think that I should stick around the 5-6.5k chapter length or would you rather the chapters take longer but have more words in them. If I was to go back to what I was originally doing when I first started writing, they would max out at around about 10k words per chapter.

On another note, I am not completely convinced with the title of this story yet If anyone has any alternatives, please let me know. Also, there is the possibility that the title could end up growing on me and I won't change it.

Finally, the reason why this chapter is slightly faster than usual is because I have had the flue... How do you even manage to get the flue in summer!?


	5. And if I would end up happy

Naruto quickly caught back up with his team who were already in the room waiting for the exam to start. "Where the hell were you just then?" Ino harshly whispered to the boy. Now that she had the confidence in herself that she could complete this exam, Ino did not want anyone ruining her chances, especially her team mates.

"Don't worry Ino" Naruto stated as he brushed off her annoyance and a hint of concern. "I was just watching that wannabe boyfriend of yours fight up against the green spandex wearing guy." Naruto stated to which he pointed towards Lee.

The gossip monger came back to the forefront as Ino wanted all of the information. "Well don't just stop there, you better tell me how the fight went." The platinum blonde haired girl demanded with her hands on her hips. Naruto chuckled at how quickly she could change her mind on things.

He was definitely going to take great pleasure in telling Ino of this. "Sasuke got utterly trounced by Lee and it was glorious to watch. You know, I have no idea what you see in that Uchiha. I mean it definitely can't be for his fighting skills."

"What? Oh well that's disappointing. I thought Sasuke-kun would have improved as much as I have over these past six months." Ino lamented. She didn't think it was possible but part of her crush on the boy was going away as she heard this. Part of the reason as to why he had been such a mystery back in the academy days was because he was untouchable. There was no one in the year that could come even close to matching Sasuke. To hear that the worst person from the year above utterly dominated Sasuke made Ino consider how good was Sasuke really? She was confident that Naruto was better than the dead last of his year and what did that say about the rookie of the year of that class? Just how good was he?

The doubts that Ino had gotten rid of quickly came back to the surface. Naruto noticed this and quickly attempted to nip it in the bud. "Hey Ino, Choji could have defeated him and so could have you if it was in the field rather than just an empty square room. Trust me, you guys have nothing to worry about." Ino shot Naruto a look of gratitude as she heard his words of reassurance.

With that said and their confidence restored, Naruto turned his attention back to the room. He wanted to find this Suna team who were supposed to be very good and make a note of them.

It was at this point that the loud trio rocked up to the show. They were soon joined by the other rookie team and it was at this point where Ino decided that she wanted to go and mingle with her other class mates.

"Hey guys, how's it going?" The blonde questioned with a big grin on her face. Sasuke was admittedly surprised at this action by Ino as he half expected her to go over and hug him to death. This was definitely a surprise.

Sakura saw the way that Ino was acting and thought that it was her plan to look like she didn't want Sasuke any more so that Sasuke would be confused, well two can play that game…

"It's you!" Konohamaru shouted as he pointed his finger right at Naruto. "What are you doing here? Where is Shikamaru anyway!? I bet that lazy ass thought that this would be too troublesome didn't he haha!" Konohamaru laughed but then went silent. Everyone other than Team Seven turned away and attempted to make themselves look invisible. Sakura for her part looked scandalized that her team mate could say something so insensitive.

Now, normally, Naruto would have spoken up here but he knew that this wasn't his place. Judging by the way that Chouji was looking at Konohamaru, he knew that his friend wasn't going to be on speaking terms with the Gaki for a long time.

"Wow, you're the most pathetic person I could ever think of. I didn't think that even you could stoop this low but I guess I was proven wrong you scum." Ino hatefully stated as she stared directly into the eyes of Konohamaru. Said brown haired boy flinched with the intensity that he was being stared at by Ino.

"What! What do you mean? What did I do wrong?" Konohamaru, confused as ever questioned out loud.

Thankfully for Ino's sake, Sakura took over the conversation because she didn't know if tears would fall if those words had to come from her mouth.

"Shikamaru died on a mission. That's why that guy is on Ino's team. He's Shikamaru's replacement." Sakura whispered harshly into the ear of Konohamaru. She noticed the honourable grandson's eyes widened as he realised the severity of the situation at hand.

"Oh, I am so sorry Ino and Chouji. I didn't know.' Konohamaru regretfully stated with a slight bow.

"It's alright but maybe next time actually think before you open that giant mouth of yours and spew out shit." Ino replied back. She knew that Konohamaru wasn't really a bad person, he was just inept most of the time. There were a few social cues that he still had to learn.

Before the trio of rookie teams including Naruto were able to start a dick measuring contest of who was going to be the best, one genin who was not apart of the group came and entered himself in the conversation. "You know, you rookies should stop talking so loudly. All you're doing is painting a target on your backs." A silver haired man with glasses stated.

"And who are you?" Sasuke abrasively questioned to the man who he did not know.

There was a slight bit of shock on the face of bespectacled man but it was quickly regained. "My name is Kabuto Yakushi and this is my seventh time at the at the chunin exams."

"I always heard these exams were tough." Chouji mumbled under his breath. He wanted to hear what this veteran had to say.

Naruto was thinking along different lines. _Why did this guy come up to all of the rookies and state that this was his seventh time? What his plan here?_ Whilst he wasn't tactically smart as say Ino due to her lessons with Shikaku, he was still pretty smart. The area that Naruto liked to think that he exceeded in was street smarts. He couldn't think of a logical reason for this guy to come up to them.

There was something fishy about him.

"Really, then if this is your seventh time, you must know a lot about these exams then." Sakura commented with the hope of finding out more information about what she had gotten herself into.

Kabuto merely grinned. "Why yes I do." It was at this point that Kabuto pulled out a deck of cards. "These ninja cards right here tell me a lot of information on how strong everyone is so I know who to avoid. Since you guys are rookies and all, I don't mind giving out information to help you out. Are there some names of people you want to find out more about?"

Sasuke was the first to speak up. He spoke with certainty in his voice. "Gaara Sabaku and Rock lee."

Not to be outdone, Konohamaru Sarutobi quickly joined the fray. "That blonde haired guy right there." The Sarutobi stated as he pointed his finger at Naruto. Just because he had heard of Shikamaru's death, it didn't mean that he was going to not take freebies when they were on offer. He didn't like the guy and he wanted to find out what his skills were so he could smash his face in!

Everyone looked at Konohamaru with a bit of a sneer as it was a bad thing to do in front of said person. He didn't care though. They weren't going to help him on his quest to become the Godaime Hokage.

"Okay then, well for Sasuke that's easy because he knows their names. Here we go, Rock Lee. It says here that he is weak in Ninjutsu and Genjutsu but he is extremely strong in Taijutsu. He has been on 10 c-rank missions. Now for Gaara… Since he is someone who is from a different village, I have less information on him. I don't know anything about his abilities but he has been on 14 C-ranked and 1 B-ranked mission. Here's the kicker though, he has never been injured once on any missions."

Everyone took notice of this when Kabuto said this. Naruto looked at Gaara in a new light. He knew that if he wanted to become the best then Gaara was the person that he was going to defeat. The only two other people beside himself that he thought could handle something like that were Neji and Rock Lee.

"Now, for you Konohamaru. Since he is a Konoha shinobi, that will make it a lot easier. He is team mates with the Yamanaka and the Akimichi, Ahhh, here we go. Naruto Uzumaki. It says here that he is proficient in both ninjutsu and taijutsu whilst satisfactory in genjutsu. His sensei is Asuma Sarutobi and, get this, he has been on 7 C-rank missions and one A-ranked mission. He has never failed a mission with a success rating of 100%." Even Kabuto was surprised at the fact that this kid here had done an A-ranked mission. Maybe he should inform Orochimaru about this kid as he could potentially be a good host, well beneath Sasuke-kun of course.

Everyone that was in hearing range apart from Ino and Chouji turned around to stare at Naruto. The blonde haired boy merely smirked when he heard this. He saw the fear and unintentionally let out a bit of killing intent even though he didn't know how to use it properly. Behind that smirk though…

_Thank fuck that didn't state that I have the dead bone pulse. What I want to know is how the hell did this guy get all that information on me and Lee? Something is definitely fishy about him. At least my blood line hasn't been officially documented down as me having it and has only been passed around with word of mouth to a select few. I'm pretty confident that not even the Hokage knows about it._

"See that village over there of sound shinobi though, they're a new village so not much is known about them but I can't imagine them being that strong." Kabuto stated as he moved the glasses on the rim of his nose.

With what happened next, Naruto felt somewhat bad about himself. He watched as the sound genin used some sort of jutsu that made Kabuto bent over and vomit whilst cracking his glasses. Now, Naruto knew that the part of the body that controlled balance was your ears. That in combination with the glasses and the name of the village meant that Naruto had quickly figured out how this guy's technique worked.

"All of you kids shut the hell up unless you want to get disqualified. Now that I have all of your attention, My name is Ibiki Morino and I am the examiner for the first exams.

Here's a good opportunity after that display from the sound village, there will be no fighting without the permission of the examiner. Even if permission is granted, killing your opponent will not be tolerated. Pigs that disobey this order will be disqualified, do I make myself clear!?" Ibiki loudly shouted to which a lot of the genin merely gulped and nodded as they feared the scar faced man.

Naruto on the other hand, well he didn't. His last mission was a fight to the death that he only barely made it out alive. He wasn't scared of some guy who as now could only talk the talk. When he started walking the walk, that's when it would get interesting as far as the blonde haired boy was concerned.

"Now, we will start the first exam." When Naruto found out that it was a written exam, he wasn't too pleased with this. He had put a lot of effort into his studies but that hadn't really gotten him that far. He could only hope as he didn't know how this would end up.

It was then that Naruto face planted into the table. A few people chuckled but Naruto smirked when he got his head back up and immediately wrote down the answers to the test. It was after that that a look of confusion appeared on the face of Naruto as he looked down at his paper and to his surprise, all of the answers had been filled out. He wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

_Ino you mad bitch thank you! _Naruto cheered internally as he realised what had just happened. All of the worries that he had for the exam instantly vanished right in that second because he knew that if there was ever a point that he didn't know what to do, Naruto would have the full support of his team mates and vice versa. They would pull through this together.

Then Naruto had to listen to a rather impressive little speech from Konohamaru even if he thought that it was unnecessary. Didn't the guy realise that the whole point of the first exam was to weed out all of those who weren't capable and he just made those kids set up for a rough time in whatever the second exam was.

The second that they got the words of encouragement from that Ibiki guy, a massive gust of wind appeared besides the man. Once the clutter all died down, a woman appeared in the middle of a banner.

Naruto had to admit that looking at her objectively now that he was entering puberty, this girl was pretty hot. Just from looking at her he got the vibe that she was bat shit crazy. Never stick your dick in crazy.

There was a bit of banter between the two proctors before the she led the chunin hopefuls out to a rather hallowing location. There was one statement that scared Choji a little though. _She's going to cut us in half!?_

"Welcome to the stage of the second test, training ground 44 or otherwise known as the forest of death!" Anko stated with a sinister grin on her face as she could only anticipate their reactions.

_Yeah so stay the fuck away from that Kusa shinobi. I'm getting a bad feeling about him. _Naruto thought to himself as he watched Konohamaru once again shoot himself in the foot.

For that genin to be able to sneak up on a jonin was not something that was common place. Who knew what other skills they had up their sleeves. Naruto wasn't even sure if that person was a man or a woman!

Naruto's attention was broken when the proctor decided to speak up. "Now, before we start the second test, there is something that I need to hand out to you guys." Anko stated as she was holding onto some forms in her right hand. "To be able to compete in these exams, you will need to fill out these forms. There will be deaths in the upcoming exam so you will have to sign this form saying that myself and konoha bare no responsibility for what happens in the forest." The frightening thing was the smile in which the lady said this with.

"I'm going to explain the second test and then you can sign the form afterwards. Then each team will check in that booth behind me." When she got a few "Hai" and a couple of nods, Anko took that as the sign to continue speaking. "Simply put, you will attempt to the ultimate survival."

"There are two scrolls, a heaven scroll and an earth scroll. To pass the exam you will need to get to the tower in the middle of the forest with a heaven scroll and an earth scroll. Whatever happens in the forest, stays in the forest. There are a few catches though. You will be disqualified if you show up to the tower with only two genin. You need to complete this as a full squad of three genin.

There is also a time limit. The second test will last 120 hours, exactly five days. Finally, you must not look inside the scrolls that you find. If you do that there will be a surprise that is even worse than disqualification!" The smirk on the face of the woman dared anyone to test this out.

"What about dinner!?" Choji's outburst was heard by everyone and they chuckled and some even called him fat. Naruto made a mental note of where they came from because he didn't want anyone to insult his friends.

"I'm sure you can find enough food in the forest through all the poisonous animals." Anko stated although she didn't really look as if she cared about the fact there may be a shortage of food.

"Now that's enough explanations. Exchange the three forms for your scroll, then choose a gate to get ready at and wait for the start of the second exam kiddies!" Anko grinned.

Choji picked up the earth scroll for the team and they waited until they were at gate 13 before they talked about strategy. Whilst Naruto was the designated leader since he had the most experience and also the fact that he was the strongest ninja out of the three of them, Ino was the strategist of the team. She was the long range fighter who was able to survey the fight whilst Naruto and Choji got into the thick of it.

The major difference that Choji noted between Ino and Shikamaru was the fact that Ino was proactive whereas his friend was very reactive. He noted that Naruto was in a very similar opinion as Ino and would like to take control of the situation rather than let it develop and himself… well he was happy to do whatever his team wanted of him.

"Alright so here's the plan. Since I don't plan on spending any time in here more than what I have to, we are going to search for a team, take their scroll and then head straight for the tower." Ino stated to which none of her team mates had a problem with that.

"Oh and when we see some people, I want to fight them first. I haven't been able to use my dead bone pulse in a proper fight so I want to see how well it works." Both Choji and Ino nodded. It was better for Naruto to sort these kinks out now rather than later. Also, it wasn't as if they were not going to do anything at all. They were going to be right behind him if he ever needed help.

"Also, Choji, can you hand me that scroll. I'm probably the best one to carry it." All three of them knew that Naruto was the strongest out of the group so it only made sense for him to hold the key to their success.

The trio of konoha shinobi raced out of the gates the second that they opened and headed north east. Naruto had spotted that the team from gate 14 was one he thought that were ripe for the taking. During the first exam the blonde genin noticed that one of the members of that team was halfway in the process of putting their hand up before Konohamaru had started his speech. Anyone who was like that was not ready for the exams and that was something that Naruto definitely planned to take advantage of.

"Guys', I think that they are this way. I don't know how but I just have this feeling." Ino stated as she veered off in a different direction. Naruto and Chouji didn't question the girl as they knew that gut instinct was one of the most important things that they could rely on.

She was indeed right. They spotted a team of genin sporting the logo of Sunagakure. Naruto didn't waste any time as he leapt from his vantage point in the trees towards the Sunagakure ninjas down below. He didn't waste any time giving the Suna shinobi any extra time to defend themselves.

Just because there was a treaty with the village, this didn't stop Naruto from going all out. He had a mission to complete and a promotion to earn and no one was going to stop that from happening. The blonde jumped from the tree and it was only at the last second that one of the genin noticed Naruto but it was too late.

Naruto had a blade form in the palm of his hand as he slammed that into the base of his enemy's skull. Naruto didn't stop there though as he got in another kill before the they noticed. When they did, the final remaining shinobi jumped back and prepared to bring out his fan. Naruto didn't let up the pressure though as he fired off some finger bullets which pierced the boy's body in multiple locations.

Bodies hit the ground but Naruto didn't take this as a sign to ease up. The final genin's body bounced slightly as it hit the ground and as it came back up, Naruto pierced the heart with a bone extending from the palm of his hand. It was no doubt gruesome but that came with the territory.

Ever since Naruto had received the gift of the dead bone pulse, he knew that he would have to come to terms with the fact that he was going to be seeing a lot of blood and death. His bloodline was perfect for killing people and since it was up close, he got to see all the nitty gritty gory details. Thankfully for Naruto, his first kill wasn't made with the use of his kekkai genkai. He made it with a kunai being thrown when he was filling in for a genin on another team. The blonde didn't know what it would be like if he had to make his first kill by shoving one of his on bones through someone's heart.

Ino and Choji popped down right that second and start pilfering the bodies. As luck would have it, Ino managed to find the heaven scroll that they were looking for. "Sweet, now let's head for the tower in the middle. If possible, we won't have to spend a night here in this decrepit forest! Ino cheered with jubilation.

"Hey, I bet since we got our second scroll so quick, if we make it to the tower as quickly as possible, then there must be some kind of record that we can make our own!" Ino grinned. Seeing her name up in lights was definitely something that she wasn't adverse to. Chouji didn't care much about this but he definitely wanted to the comfort of a bed to sleep on so he was all for moving as quickly as possible.

"Now let's hurry!" Naruto commanded to which the other two nodded.

It was getting darker with the sun almost having set that Naruto pulled a bone out of his arm and lit the tip of fire with some elemental manipulation Naruto passed it to Choji who was at the front of their 3 man formation. He was so thankful that they knew water walking as it cut their time drastically.

When they got to the tower, Chouji was the one who spotted the entrance and they all went inside. Naruto briefly wondered whether or not it was the smell of food that lead Choji to the entrance.

"Well, we made it here with both scrolls so I think that now we can open them." Naruto commented to which the other two nodded. When Naruto channelled some chakra into the scrolls, smoke enveloped the room and a man with glasses appeared.

"W-w-w-what!? But it has only been 1 hour and 23 minutes. That shatters the previous record!" Ebisu staggered to say before he passed out in shock.

"Well I guess we did it guys. We're the best genin team ever!" Naruto smirked whilst he said this much the same as Ino whilst Choji merely grinned. Naruto was right, they were a good team.

**x-X-x**

Whist the rest of the people were spending their time fighting the wilderness to hopefully get a scroll, Team Ten was quite happily relaxing. Naruto had even spent the first two days of his time in the tower training in preparation of what was to come. As far as he was concerned, this was all too easy and there had to be something more coming up soon. He wanted to get in that little bit extra training just in case he was ready for whatever they were going to throw at him.

"Can all of the genin who have passed the second test make it to the main hall along with their sensei's." A man stated over the tannoy system to which Team ten all looked at one another with a grin on their face.

"First off, I would like to congratulate everyone on passing the second exam." The Hokage stated with a smile on his face.

"It seems as if your team got lucky Kakashi but as long as my team is around getting any further is not going to be possible since from now on it is all about individual ability. With youth there are the sweet times and there are the savoury times eh Kakashi…" Gai said with a knowing smirk on his face. He was always the type of person who was always willing to bet.

Kakashi was Kakashi and thus Gai was in a slump with a cloud hanging over his head.

"For the upcoming test, there is something that I would like for you to know." It was at this point that Naruto, if he was honest with himself he tuned out most of what the Sandaime Hokage had to say. In the end, the only part that he really cared about was the fact that they were going to have some preliminary exams beforehand which were going to be one on one shinobi fights in the pit that they were standing in.

This was something that Naruto was more than happy with as it meant that he would hopefully get some competition in this exam that was up to scratch. It was then that the first fight of the preliminary rounds was up. It was Sasuke Uchiha against Akido Yoroi.

Had Naruto not seen the Uchiha fight beforehand, he would have thought that this would be a good marker for the supposed golden child of society and Ino's love interest. He had though and that meant that he knew how weak the Uchiha really was and couldn't comprehend why Ino was attracted to someone so anti-social and weak. There was no envy whatsoever… well maybe a bit actually.

From what he saw though looking down at the genin, Sasuke looked really worse for wear. He had no idea what had happened to him during his time spent in the forest but from the looks of Konohamaru and Sakura, it wasn't anything good.

The only noteworthy thing about the fight was that apparently, Sasuke had done something that annoyed Lee. From the sounds of things, Sasuke had managed to steal one of lee's hard earned techniques in the blink of an eye. Sure, he knew that the sharingan had this capability but he thought it was a dick move on the behalf of Sasuke to steal a comrade's jutsu like that.

The fight after Sasuke's was one that Naruto actually paid keen attention to the fight after which was between Shino Aburame and Zaku Abumi. In the end the fight was over fairly quickly but the kicker that Naruto knew was that if he was in a fight with Shino, then he would win. Bugs didn't like fire. Nothing really liked fire except water.

The fight after Shino and Zaku was the first one that Naruto actually paid attention to as he had a vested interest in as it was Misumi Tsurugi vs Choji Akimichi. Now, Naruto had no idea just how strong the other konoha genin was but he was confident in his team mate. Choji, as long as he was confident was the strongest genin in attendance. Sure, he may not be the speediest but if you got hit by him, then a follow up punch an you were knocked out.

"The fight between Choji Akimichi and Misumi Tsurugi is now, Go!" Gekkou Hayate shouted out to which Choji got in his stance as his opponent charged at him. Ino watched with baited breath which quickly turned into shock as she saw the enemy's body modify itself in a very abnormal way.

He quickly found himself holding Choji in a choker hold but unfortunately for the chunin hopeful, he was up against someone who could easily get out of his hold. "Nikudan Sensha (Human Meat Bullet Tank)!" Choji called out as he surprised everyone as he went through the hand seals. The big surprise was the fact that he managed to do this with only one hand. Sure, he could only do that with one jutsu and it was the one that he had been practicing for pretty much all of his life but hey…

"He can use one handed jutsus! Just what have you been feeding him Asuma?" Colour Kakashi impressed as he definitely didn't think that anyone on Asuma's team would be capable of doing such a thing. If there was anyone on the team that he thought that would be possibly able to do this, it would be Naruto-kun.

"I think the question should be what haven't you been feeding your genin Kakashi?" Asuma chuckled as he just got more information to let him know that this bet was all his except for whatever freak of nature Gai had spawned.

"Yeah! Kakashi-sensei! How come you never taught us that!?" Konohamaru complained loudly which drew the attention of everyone. Kakashi wisely chose to ignore the comment. He instead focused on how the Akimichi genin tripled in size before bringing his limbs inside of his body.

Misumi attempted to let go but Choji held on to the boy's arms as he brought his limbs inside his body as he started to spin. Just because Misumi could elongate his limbs and dislocate every joint in his body, it didn't meant that he didn't feel any pain. When you had the weight bearing down on your body with no retreat in sight, it didn't spell anything good.

The weight bearing down on him was enough that Misumi attempted to release the hold that Choji had on him but it was for nought. Choji continued rolling around the room as he wanted to ensure that this victory was his.

Choji jumped into the air whilst still holding onto his opponent and it was an impressive sight to watch a genin of his size jump so high in the air whilst continuing to keep spinning. He had done this enough times in the past to be able to time his landing so that Misumi was underneath all of his weight when he made connection with the ground. Blood spurted out as Misumi had coughed up a large amount of blood with the multiple breaks in his ribs from the impact. Chouji ended the jutsu and looked down at the damage he had caused. He didn't like doing to anyone, especially a konoha shinobi but unfortunately, things like this happened in the ninja world.

Doctors raced out onto the arena as the proctor called an end to the preliminary fight as the damage done was by far, too much to come back from. The fact that Misumi didn't even attempt to move to a standing position just went to show how devastating the Akimichi clan could be.

"Nice one Choji!" Naruto complimented his friend as he came up the stairs with a massive grin on his face.

Ino nodded as she definitely agreed with what Naruto was saying. "Yeah you did heaps good Choji-kun. See, your confidence and willingness on missions is getting better. Soon you're going to be better than Naruto over here." Ino said with a teasing grin on her face as she turned towards Naruto.

"Pfft. Please, sure Choji is improving but so am I. I haven't shown you guys all of my tricks yet and anyway Ino, he's already ahead of you so I think that you better step up your game princess." Whilst Naruto meant to say that in a condescending tone of voice, Ino took the word princess as a compliment. She grinned because she wasn't used to getting compliments from people that she hung around. Choji and Shikamaru never complimented her on her appearance and the less said about Sasuke, the better.

Naruto was different though, he was willing to say whatever was on his mind so she took this as a good sign. Sasuke who?

Sakura who was watching on from a vantage point looked on with unbridled jealousy. She didn't know what Ino's game was in her attempt to finally win Sasuke over but whatever it was, it wasn't going to work. It wasn't that which Sakura was jealous over. It was the fact that she was getting complimented from her team mate. Sakura never got any of that from Konohamaru and that combined with the way how harshly Sasuke Uchiha always refused her offers of a date left the girl with a whole host of insecurities.

"Just for that I am going to shout the team lunch after this exam is over and the three of you have made it to the final round." Asuma said with a smirk on his face. To be fair, he wouldn't be paying for this meal out of his own money… he would be paying for it with the winnings of all the bets he had taken. His students didn't know this but then, what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

Konohamaru for his part couldn't help but look on with jealousy. He saw the way his uncle was treating his students and that was completely different to the way that Kakashi treated Sakura, Sasuke and himself. It wasn't just that though, from the time he spent in the academy, Choji was nowhere near as good as him and yet after that performance, he had greatly reduced the gap between them. Konohamaru still liked to think that he was stronger than Choji. Who knew how long it would be before Choji would overtake him?

The Sarutobi couldn't let that happen as he had a dream to complete. His dream was to become the Fifth Hokage of Konoha and that wouldn't happen if he wasn't getting stronger.

Konohamaru wasn't the only one feeling jealous, Sasuke Uchiha was feeling the exact same emotions as his team mate even though he hadn't seen Choji fight. He had ambitions and desires and he felt that the standards he had placed on himself to meet this goals were not being met as far as he was concerned.

"The next fight is Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka." The difference was stark as one looked supremely confident and the other was looking slightly nervous. That nervous was only exacerbated when she noticed that Ino was getting encouragement from her team mates whilst she was getting none. Kakashi wasn't that type of person, Sasuke was out and Konohamaru didn't particularly like her after all the times she had said that he was trying to be like Sasuke.

"Hajime." Gekkou Hayate called out as he watched the match start.

"Bunshin no jutsu (Clone jutsu)" Sakura called out as she made a clone either side of her. Ino didn't bother moving as she started going through some hand seals. _I know those hand seals! _Sakura thought to herself as she saw what Ino was doing with her hands. Knowing what the jutsu was, Sakura dodged out of the way as Ino went through the final hand seal.

_Heh. All that talk and Ino is still just as bad as she was at the academy. I can't believe that I thought that I was nervous about this! _Sakura thought to herself with a triumphant grin on her face. That was until Ino quickly changed the hand seals and went and launched a completely different jutsu.

It was a genjutsu and it only took one and a half seconds for Sakura to realise what had happened but that was enough time for the Yamanaka girl to be able to go through yet another jutsu with quick hands. This one was the one that Sakura had originally thought that the blonde was going to use.

By the time that Sakura had managed to break herself out of the genjutsu, she had already been hit by what made the Yamanaka clan so famous. She did all this without even having to use the backup plan. Thank fuck for that Ino thought as she would like to not have to cut her hair off.

"Proctor, I forfeit." Ino stated as she was inside the body of her former friend.

"The winner of this fight is Ino Yamanaka." Gekkou stated to which Naruto grinned as he watched his team mate succeed. This meant that all of Team Ten would pass as long as he managed to win his fight which was something that he was more than confident of achieving.

Whilst Asuma was proud of what his only female student just accomplished, he was counting the money that he was no doubt going to win. Yes, today was a good day.

x-X-x

"The next fight will be between Naruto Uzumaki and Kankuro Sabaku. Fighters, take your place." The proctor stated to which a lot of the senior eyes including one Orochimaru who was in disguise were keenly watching to see just how good Naruto was. Kabuto had told him earlier about the fact that the boy had managed to complete an A-ranked mission as a genin and had a 100% mission success rate. Any genin who could put that on a resume was definitely something that had merit and was worth investigating. If it wasn't for young Sasuke Uchiha who had the sharingan, this child could very well have been his host.

Kakashi also had a keen interest on the match as he wanted to know just how strong his sensei's son was. To this day, Kakashi didn't regret for a second not becoming Naruto's sensei but there was always going to be a part of him who wanted to be there as the boy's mentor. From the skill that Naruto had shown when he took his genin exam, the boy was quite skilled and could become a good Jonin if he put the effort into it.

Out of all the people watching though, none were more interested in finding out just how skilled Naruto was. Whereas Kakashi and the other Jonin had to hear about Naruto for all of about two weeks thanks to Asuma's betting, he had to listen to his son rave about the boy for four months. He was finally able to see whether or not Minato's son deserved all the hype he had received. From the way that Asuma had been talking, Naruto was the second coming of Minato. From the academy reports he had read, the Sandaime Hokage just couldn't see that happening.

"let the fight begin." The examiner stated to which Naruto got ready into a defensive taijutsu stance and watched his opponent. He wanted to see what this Suna ninja did. Naruto knew that the threat wasn't Kankuro, it was Gaara. He wanted to find out anything that Gaara could potentially use against him in the further rounds of the tournament.

In conjunction with that, Naruto ideally would like to pass through the exams without showing much skills until he knew what Gaara was capable of. As far as he was concerned, out of all of the shinobi here, the only one that two that he feared were Gaara because he was unknown and lee because Naruto had noticed that the boy was wearing weights around his legs during his fight with Sasuke. He had no idea how much Lee was holding back.

"Fight!" the proctor once again called. The fight started by Kankuro dropping whatever it was that was inside those bandages was onto the ground that they were standing on. Naruto merely watched as he stayed perfectly still inside his taijutsu, waiting for the opponent to make the first move.

"Come on Naruto! Smash him in the face!" Ino chanted as she was getting annoyed at the lack of action but Naruto ignored the girl. He didn't get serious all the time but when there was a fight, the blonde haired genin got deadly serious.

Five minutes passed with neither one of Kankuro or Naruto had moved and it was starting to get on the nerves of Konohamaru. "Come on you pieces of shit! Start fighting!" Had the Sandaime not been feeling the same impatience as his grandson, he would have reprimanded the boy for saying that foul language. He was though so he let it slide.

Naruto smirked as he had already deduced that this guy wanted him to attack first. There was obviously something that he had planned and if Naruto was going to guess, it involved that thing he was holding.

Kankuro took the bait. He started running forward to where Naruto was. Naruto happened to notice that he left whatever it was behind him out in the open. The Uzumaki grinned. Now was his chance. Racing off at a speed which was just slightly above what Rock Lee was using with his weights on, Naruto sprinted right for the onrushing Kankuro.

Kankuro didn't show any emotion as Naruto ran for him. Right when Naruto got close enough, Kankuro went in for a punch. Naruto dodged the punch with ease but instead of punching back like everyone had expected or even kicking, he completely dodged Kankuro and went straight for the thing in the middle of the arena.

Naruto smirked as he knew that he had made the right choice in choosing to go after the thing wrapped in bandages when the small blue chakra strings attempted to attach to his feet. Fortunately for Naruto, he was moving at a speed that was far too fast for Kankuro to keep up with as he zigzagged towards his goal for the suna shinobi to be able to latch some strings.

When he realised that it was too late to attempt to use chakra strings to trip Naruto, the boy broke out of the disguise he had been hiding in and prepared for a taijutsu fight with Naruto. All of the Jonin were impressed. Naruto had managed to completely take the puppet right out of the fight and isolate the puppeteer. He was definitely in the driving seat now.

Not content with the advantage that he had made of himself, Naruto pressed forward and delivered a devastating punch to the face of Kankuro who staggered back a few steps as he attempted to regain his balance. Naruto's knuckles were pretty damn white as the boy had brought the bones right to the edge of coming out of his skin but not just so he could inflict more damage.

The sound of a jaw cracking was a sound that everyone in the room bar Orochimaru and Kakashi winced at. It definitely sounded like Naruto could pack a lot of force behind those punches when he wanted to. Naruto quickly followed this up with another punch to Kankuro's stomach which made the suna shinobi bend down in pain. Once again, Naruto didn't let up as he gave a devastating knee right to the already broken jaw of the enemy which sent the genin flying up into the air.

Just because he was confident that he had already won, that didn't mean that he was going to let up. Naruto wasn't going to stop pressing the advantage that he had gained until the proctor called this match over.

Naruto jumped into the air in chase of his opponent. When he got to his opponent, Naruto wrapped both his arms and legs around the body of Kankuro. The unfortunate part for Kankuro was the fact that he was upside down with Naruto having wrapped his legs were around his chest and his arms around his abdomen. What this meant was that all of both Naruto and Kankuro's weight was on his head and neck. No matter who you were, this spelt trouble for anyone whether you were Kisame Hoshigaki or a no name random genin. It was the type of attack that you had to get out of unless you wanted serious damage done.

Naruto wasn't the only one who knew just how much damage this could do. Baki, the sensei of the suna team launched himself into the fight. Naruto saw this out of the corner of his eye and released Kankuro from his hold and landed on the ground safely. Baki for his part caught his student to save him from any further damage.

"Don't think that I won't forget this Uzumaki." Baki crisply stated before he personally took the son of the kazekage to the hospital.

Gekkou Hayate merely rolled his eyes. If the guy wanted to start something then he was stupid. The suna ninja here, even if they were allies, were at a supreme disadvantage and konoha would be willing to fight back.

From what he had seen, that Naruto kid was more than capable of handling himself should a situation arise. He got the feeling that Naruto was holding a fair bit back.

That was the thought shared by many people, none more so than the Sandaime Hokage as he resigned himself to the fact that he was only going to find out the full extent of Naruto's prowess during the finals. Little did he know that it would be too little too late.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

A substantially longer chapter than normal. I was at odds of where to end the chapter but in the end I decided to do all of the chunin exams in the one chapter. Everything that happens in the manga for the preliminaries happened in this story. Guess this means that you guys get half a chapter for free.

Also, please let me know what you think of this chapter :)


	6. I would pray

With the preliminary round of the chunin exams out of the way, it was now time for Team Ten to make their way to the barbeque place that they frequented. As much as Naruto wanted to celebrate for the right reasons, there was something that was plaguing his mind. He knew he should be happy at the fact that he passed and was now headed to the chunin exam finals but after witnessing what had happened to his friend Rock Lee, Naruto couldn't bring his spirits up. He had just watched his friend get absolutely crippled to the point where he was certain that he would never be a ninja again.

The only saving grace for him was that at least he was still alive. Although, to be fair if it was Naruto in lee's position, he would have requested death as being a cripple for the rest of your life was not a life worth living.

Seeing what his student was going through, Asuma decided to try and cheer the boy up. "Hey Naruto, Konoha has the best medical program in the world so if anyone can fix up Lee then we are going to be the ones to do it. Anyway, try not to think of that because the more you do, the more you are going to wallow in your thoughts and that benefits no one. What you need to do now is move on as quickly as possible and make sure that you are strong enough to prevent that from happening again." Asuma wisely stated to which Naruto nodded. His sensei was right. Nothing positive was going to come from thinking about the injuries that Lee had sustained.

"So sensei, how are we going to go about my training for the finals? I mean Lee was so fast that I couldn't even follow him and yet he got owned by Gaara." Just saying that Suna shinobi's name brought distaste to Naruto's lips. He didn't like the boy at all. "I mean sure, I have more than just taijutsu but how am I going to break through that sand?"

Asuma couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't you think you're getting a bit too far ahead of yourself Naruto? You would only face Gaara in the grand final. Who is to say that you would even make it that far. You have to beat the Uchiha in the first round and then you have to face the winner of either my nephew or the Hyuga kid. Don't get too confident Gaki."

Naruto looked affronted. "Hey, it's not cockiness if you can back it up Asuma-sensei! You saw the Uchiha though, he looked really weak and I could destroy him. The only thing that I have to watch out for is his sharingan and casting a genjutsu on me. Outside of that, there is nothing that he can do to even come close to me."

Naruto paused for a second. "Plus, I can beat Neji easily. Sure, I will let him hit me once just so I can grab a hold of him. I'd like to see his Byakugan go up against getting drilled in the face with a bone spear."

As much as he knew he shouldn't stroke the ego of his student, watching the boy display all this confidence was something that Asuma enjoyed. "Haha, what makes you so sure that you would be facing Neji, I mean there is Konohamaru after all."

Naruto started laughing. "Come on sensei, you need to learn how to say better jokes. Oh wait, sorry." Naruto awkwardly chuckled as he realised that the person who he was talking about was indeed his sensei's nephew. "He was so shit during his fight that he could only win by taking a fart in someone's face. Now I don't know about you but to me, that doesn't say skill, that just says that he won by pure dumb luck."

Asuma definitely agreed with Naruto there in that Konohamaru definitely didn't have the most impressive showings in the preliminaries but the one thing that did impress him was that the boy had the will and desire to give up no matter what the situation was that he was facing. Also, there was something off about Konohamaru. He couldn't quite pinpoint it but Asuma would guess that it had something to do with the seal.

"Well he will definitely be much stronger in a month's time as he will be getting training from both Jiraiya of the Sannin and the Sandaime Hokage. You better not slack off or he will become better than you with those two people training him." Asuma internally chuckled when he saw the wide eyes of Naruto. He chuckled as he knew that for someone like Naruto, seeing someone weaker than him catch up meant that he wasn't working hard enough.

To someone like Naruto where all of his success had come from hard work and dedication, this was a massive insult to his character. Naruto vowed that he wouldn't let Konohamaru come even close to matching him. "Well then let's get started on my training right away then Asuma-sensei! I have to be the best!" Naruto stated as if it was a fact.

Whilst he admire his student's drive, he knew that it could possibly be his downfall if he didn't amount to the standards that he set for himself. Asuma knew this well with his role model being the Sandaime Hokage.

"Well Naruto, I won't be training you for this month. It's a conflict of interest thing as you are going up against my nephew." Just when he saw the face of Naruto drop and his head start to hang, Asuma grinned and continued on speaking. "But, someone else is more than willing to train you. This person is not someone you want to get on the bad side of and it would be very beneficial for your career if you got on his good side."

_So don't get on his bad side, so he must be really strong and stay on his good side… that must mean that this guy is pretty high up in the political side of things. If he is high up there he is either a clan head or an old war veteran who is retired from the front lines. He could also be a member of the ANBU but I doubt that._

"Got it, what should I expect from this guy and how should I prepare myself?" Naruto questioned. Obviously, whoever this guy happened to be, he was going to be a good shinobi, that much he was certain of. He wanted to make the most of his training with the person so he could incorporate it into his training with Asuma-sensei. He probably wouldn't get to train with this person all that often so that he would have to make the most of the situation.

"Well, let's just say that he is very strict and prepare yourself for anything." The cryptic message that Asuma was the last that the Sarutobi man gave on Naruto's trainer. "For now though Naruto, just relax and spend some time with your team mates. Tomorrow you will start your training at 9am on the dot at this location." Asuma stated and he handed a piece of paper to Naruto.

The blonde haired boy nodded. It would be good to have a rest day for once.

**x-X-x**

"I see, Asuma told me that you had a fixation for chocolate milk." A voice stated to which Naruto turned around in shock. Whoever this person was damned good as Naruto couldn't even detect a hint of someone approaching him. The genin rapidly turned his head around and looked at who his supposed sensei was.

The man in front of him was not what Naruto expected. For starters, he was holding a walking stick and half of his body was covered in bandages. The other half was covered in robes. Pretty much the only thing that Naruto could actually see of this man was half of his face.

"You, you're not what I was expecting." Naruto stated without thinking as he took in the appearance of his apparent sensei. Naruto quickly realised just how this could sound and winced slightly.

If the man was affected by this statement, he didn't know it. "Tell me then Naruto, what were you expecting?" Danzo curiously questioned.

Naruto didn't miss a beat. "I admittedly kind of thought that my sensei was going to Shikaku Nara."

Now this got Danzo thinking as he wondered why Naruto would think that Shikaku of all people would be his sensei. "Why do you think that Shikaku would be your sensei?" Danzo questioned. It wasn't so much the answer that Danzo was looking for; he wanted to find out the thought process behind the decision.

"Well Asuma-sensei said I should be very wary of my sensei so that must mean he is very strong, probably either an elite Jonin or bordering on one. Then he also told me that you were the type of person who you wanted to stay on the good side of so then that must mean that you are in a position of power; since I'm a shinobi that probably means the council since that is my chain of command. When I combined these two traits, I came to the conclusion of a clan head.

With Choji, Ino, Neji and Shino all having passed the exams, which meant that the two clan heads to choose from were either the Inuzuka's or the Nara's. Considering I took the place of Shikamaru after his son died, I thought that he might take an interest in the person who had replaced his son."

Danzo, whilst he didn't say it was very impressed with the reasoning that Naruto had provided. "Oh, I thought that Asuma would have mentioned the fact that you were going to be getting trained by the person who trained him." Danzo merely stated to which Naruto's eyes widened.

"Oh, so you're Danzo Shimura, there was no picture of you in the books that I was reading so I didn't know what you looked like." When Naruto said this, Danzo once again pressed for answers. He wanted to find out as much about the boy as he could so he could make his plans best suited for Minato's son.

"What did those books say about me?"

"Well they said that you were once vying for the position of the Hokage, you were routinely going on missions with the Shodaime and the Nidaime Hokage's. You're on the council and you are one of the Sandaime's advisors. It said that at one time you were challenging Hiruzen Sarutobi for the position as Hokage."

"I see, now where did you find all of this information?"

_Why is he asking me all of these questions about himself, surely he knows all this himself? _ It was then that it twigged for Naruto. This wasn't an introduction, it was a test. "Oh you know, the library but I can't remember which book since there were so many." He barely caught it but there was the tiniest of nods that came from Danzo.

"Good. For your training, we will be focusing on your bloodline and getting the most out of it. At the moment, Asuma has told me that the only things that you can do with it are use your finger bullets and regular taijutsu."

Naruto got a little bit annoyed at the way that his newest sensei stated the facts. "Well it's not exactly the easiest thing to do when you don't have anything but your imagination as your way of learning. It's hard creating jutsus completely from scratch."

Danzo didn't deal with complaining or emotions for that fact. He solely looked at situations with the mindset of figuring how to turn a problem into a solution. "Then I guess that these would be very beneficial to your training then." The war hawk stated as he pulled out two scrolls from his pocket.

Naruto lit up like a house of on fire with the way his eyes widened when he saw those two scrolls. He didn't think that there were any scrolls on his bloodline! "How did you manage to get these Danzo-sensei?" Naruto questioned with much joy.

Internally, Danzo admitted to himself that having the suffix of sensei on his name felt good to hear from someone other than Asuma. "Let's just say that your sensei was right in saying that I am someone who you want to be on the good side of and leave it at that okay." Naruto nodded without question. He definitely wasn't going to bite the hand that fed him.

"Sure thing Danzo-sensei."

"Now Naruto-kun, we won't be doing any sparring during our training as we will be focusing on developing new skills. Think of the chunin exam finals as being the place to field test these jutsus."

"Alright then, so can I open these scrolls?" As much as he knew he should use his manners, Naruto couldn't help but contain his excitement about finally learning not only some jutsus but also more about his past. He had never been able to find out any details on his past outside of the fact that his family outside of the fact that the Uzumaki clan had been eradicated. He knew that they were very good in the art of sealing but the problem with that was the fact that it was such an obscure art that very few people knew. It was about as easy to find someone good in the arts of Fuinjutsu as it was to find a competent wind ninjutsu practitioner outside of Sunagakure.

That was food for later thought though as Naruto found himself going back to the scroll.

_Uchi Kokkaku no Jutsu (Endoskeleton Jutsu)_

_A-rank ninjutsu_

_The user will modify their bones to the point where just there is bone covering the entire internal surface of the body just beneath the layer of skin. This provides the user with a much stronger body and a better defence because for anything that breaches the skin. Not only does this provide the user with added defensive prowess but it also helps the user offensively as they have much quicker access to a large supply of bone marrow to mould into weapons. This also means that the user can create a bone from any part of his body._

Just from reading that Naruto was giddy. This sounded like the perfect jutsu as it meant that Naruto would increase in all aspects of fighting with the one jutsu. Obviously it was an A-ranked ninjutsu so it was by far the hardest thing that he had ever had the chance of learning but Naruto was confident that with time and effort, he would be able to master this thing!

After having read the first scroll, Naruto turned his attention back to the other scrolls. When he opened the one that was similar to the one he was currently holding, Naruto got an even more determined look on his face. Apparently this one needed to be able to use the Endoskeleton Jutsu as a prerequisite. Well he just got even more incentive if it was needed to learn the jutsu since the scroll he was looking at stated that it was S-ranked.

"In addition to that, we will be working on incorporating the use of your element with your bloodline." When Naruto heard this, his head immediately shot up as he had never even thought of doing something like this! _Damn, why didn't I think of that!?_

This sent Naruto's mind spiralling down into a whole bunch of possibilities, all of which sound extremely cool to the young genin. Naruto however was broken out of his thoughts by his sensei who continued on. "However, before we can begin to do that, we will need to see how far you have come in your katon manipulation and whether or not you need more practice in that area. Now, show me how good you are at using fire without a jutsu." Danzo commanded to which Naruto nodded and did as he was told.

He created a flame in his hand that was stronger than what the beginner level of elemental manipulation provided. This was good. "Very good, we don't have to do any remedial training. Don't take this as a chance to stop training your element. Having mastery over your element is one of the most important skills to have." Danzo stated, advising Naruto to which the boy nodded.

"What I want you do to is create a bone extending from your index finger." The war hawk stated to which Naruto nodded. The man watched in fascination.

"Now, I want you to try and send some fire chakra into that finger and onto the bone." Naruto did just that and watched as the very base of the bone started turning slightly orange. It was much harder than Naruto originally thought.

"It seems like you have some work to do now don't you." Danzo stated before he left Naruto to his own devices.

**x-X-x**

The sun was setting and Danzo had decided to come back to one of his private training grounds to see how much progress Minato's son had made. As it turned out, Naruto had gotten to the point where one finger was completely bright orange with fire chakra and Danzo, from a metre away could feel the heat emanating from it. On closer inspection, Danzo saw that a second finger was dully lit half way.

"Another aspect you could use is having all of your bone fingers out and going up the chains. Send fire chakra to one finger fully and then recede the chakra. Then, quickly send it up the next finger along. Do it for every finger and try and make it as quick a possible but do not sacrifice quality for time. This should give you a better understanding of how to use your chakra in varying locations around the body."

"Thanks Danzo-sensei. I will try that but I think that is enough for now, I will go and have dinner and then try again later on tonight." Naruto stated to which Danzo nodded. When the two parted ways, Naruto went to go and get some dinner. As this was happening, Danzo decided that he wanted to go and watch what the boy did in his spare time. Naruto had a very bright future in konoha and he wanted to ensure that it stayed that way.

Much to the surprise of the war hawk, Naruto didn't go home straight away after having dinner. He instead went to the mission hall. Now there was only one reason as to why a genin who was in the middle of training for his chunin exams would go to the mission hall to get a D-ranked all for himself. It meant that Naruto needed the money.

Someone who had such a promising shinobi career shouldn't be held back because of the fact that he came from a poor background. Hindrances like that couldn't be accepted for someone who had the potential to be a kage level shinobi one day. Talent like that didn't come around all that often. This was why Danzo was so interested in Naruto as he wanted to ensure the prosperity of Konoha through Naruto.

Out of the three with the potential to become kage level shinobi that he could see, Naruto was the most stable. Sure, with Konohamaru being the grandson of Hiruzen, the boy was going to be loyal but with the Kyubi inside him, Danzo couldn't promise the fact that he would be sane. Jinchuuriki were very unique people. Danzo didn't trust Itachi's little brother the second that the massacre took place. Once the boy found out just what they had done, he would no doubt want to get revenge as that was all he ever spoke about. He would merely change his target from Itachi to Konoha.

Naruto on the other hand was young and without any role models outside of his own student. This meant that he could mould the boy into what konoha needed. It would be much harder to work with say Konohamaru or Sasuke. All he had to do was find out what Naruto help important and get on the boy's good side by giving him a favour or two. Once that would happen, Naruto would be ingratiated to him and the cogs would slowly start turning from there.

Ever since Itachi had left the village, there had never been a bonafide Kage level shinobi. Kakashi was the closest that they had but as far as Danzo was concerned, he wasn't skilled enough to be at that level, he was just on the level below it.

Whilst konoha was definitely strong now, it desperately needed to plan for the future as himself and Hiruzen were not going to be around forever. That was why it was imperative that Naruto became the best that he could be because after all, there was the invasion that was coming soon.

**x-X-x**

"Tell me Naruto, what motivates you, why do you strive to be a good shinobi?" Danzo questioned to the young boy as he finished his training session and the two were sitting down on a park bench.

"Money." Naruto didn't need to expand on that he felt. Money was the sole reason why Naruto was motivated as money bought all of the things in life that he ever wanted or thought that he wanted. Of course, Naruto knew that money didn't buy happiness but he would rather cry in a mansion than a cardboard box.

Danzo nodded. Being a shinobi was definitely a profitable profession if you were good at what you did. It was also something that he could use to manipulate Naruto how he wanted given the boy state his weakness so openly but it was concerning for Danzo and his plans.

"Is that all. That is very selfish?" Danzo stated to which Naruto immediately turned around and faced him. Danzo's hard stare didn't lessen with Naruto looking at him. Naruto could tell that Danzo was looking down on him. He didn't like that one bit. Over the short space of time with his newest sensei, he liked the old man. He was very serious but you at least knew where you stood with the man as he never pulled punches.

Naruto was never one to say know to a role model as he didn't have many people in his life that he could turn to for advice. Asuma was a boon for that as the man would always ask any questions that Naruto fired his way. Danzo was much the same although he wasn't kind like Asuma but from the time that he had spent with him so far, Naruto knew him to be fair. If you put in the hard work, you would get the rewards at the end.

"If I was in your position, financial incentive definitely would be one of my forms of motivation but it would not be the sole form. Tell me Naruto, don't you want to get stronger so you can protect your comrades, to prevent them from dying." Danzo stated and he knew that Naruto had never thought of it this way judging by the way that his eyes moved

Recently, Naruto never had anyone other than himself to care about. Now though, he had people like Asuma, Choji and an annoying blonde haired girl that made him constantly second guess himself.

Now that he had people that he liked to think that he could call his friends, Naruto realised at that moment that he didn't want anything to happen to them. He wanted them to be safe. He didn't want them to end up like Lee or even worse, Shikamaru even though he had never met the guy.

"I guess that I never had anyone close to me that I wanted to protect so I guess was very selfish. I don't want the people that I care about to be injured. I am still heavily motivated by financial gain but I guess now I also have other forms of motivation. This just means that I have to be even stronger!"

"I see, that's good of you." Danzo said as he wanted to reinforce what he considered positive behaviour. "Now tell me Naruto-kun, what are your thoughts on Gaara?" Danzo questioned although he was confident in the answer that he was going to get.

"I hate him! Sure, he was fully within his rights to do what he did to Lee but it is his whole attitude. He has no care for anyone around him. He even treats his brother or sister like absolute filth is shameful. No one should treat their family that way."

"That makes this next conversation that much easier then." Danzo said more to himself than Naruto. The blonde haired boy could only look on with confusion. ""There is a potential mission that I will give you Naruto but you won't find out any more information until you accept it and once you accept it, there will be no backing out, do I make myself clear?"

Naruto didn't even need to take a question to think about it. "Yes, I am willing to go on this mission. Hey, wait a minute, are you even allowed to give out missions? From what I read you were retired?"

"That is what I want you to think. I am officially still an Elite Jonin ninja so I can hand out missions." Once he got a nod of understanding from Naruto, Danzo left off where he started. "I am hereby giving you an S-ranked mission Genin Uzumaki Naruto." The change in Danzo's tone of voice was noticeable to Naruto.

The blonde haired boy gulped as a slight amount of fear entered his body. An S-rank mission was completely unheard of. He had one A-ranked mission under his belt and even that was by a massive stretch to say that he felt comfortable on the mission. He had increased his skill and confidence since that month but he didn't know if he had improved that much. In the end, Naruto knew that he didn't have much of a choice. He signed up for this mission and he was going to do as much as possible to ensure its completion.

"What is the mission Danzo-sensei?" Naruto asked. Danzo could see the fear but he could also see the determination. He knew that he had made the right choice.

"You're mission is to kill Gaara Sabaku during your fight with him during the chunin exams." Danzo simply stated as he didn't want to overcomplicate things.

There was a sigh of relief that went through Naruto when he heard this. His nerves about the S-ranked mission were much better now. The thought of killing another genin sounded nowhere near as scary as what had Naruto thought could have potentially been the S-ranked mission.

"Why is killing Gaara an S-ranked mission, surely he isn't that strong is he?" Naruto questioned. As he said this, he realised that Gaara was the son of the current Kazekage.

"Outside of the fact that Gaara is an important political figure, Gaara is also the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi no Shukaku. You do know what jinchuuriki are right Naruto-kun?"

Naruto's eyes widened when he heard this. "Uhh, briefly learnt about that at the academy I thin?. They are someone who has had a demon sealed inside of them from a young age and they can call on their powers to aid them in battle right?" Naruto questioned to which Danzo nodded.

"Precisely. What I am about to tell you is something that you are not allowed to tell anyone." Danzo stressed the importance of his message to Naruto. "There is going to be an invasion on konoha during the chunin exams with Sunagakure attacking konoha." Danzo stated as he let the information sink into his student.

"What! Why?" Naruto questioned with a look of seriousness on his face. Now that he had worked so hard to get to where he was and the friends that he had made, Naruto didn't want to lose any of it.

"The reason why Suna are attacking konoha is because they are losing funding from their Daimyo. He is sending most of his missions to Konoha and as a result, the economy of Sunagakure is definitely struggling. They are attempting to make a power play and display to their daimyo that they are worth getting the missions back. They see konoha as having enough missions and want to take back what they think is rightfully theirs."

"Well they should fuck off. I mean can't they earn those missions by merit like what we have done? We didn't get to be the strongest shinobi village without putting in the effort." Although he didn't agree with the choice of language coming from his student, Danzo definitely agreed with the sentiment."

"Wait a minute, why are you telling me this Danzo-sensei? I could understand if all of the genin were getting told but they aren't from what I am gathering, you're solely telling me."

"Perceptive. That is because you are no mere genin. From what I have seen in your training this month and your mission reports from Asuma, you are far and above the standards that need to be met to become a chunin. You being in these exams is a mere formality as if you don't get a promotion during the exams, I will promote you myself." Naruto couldn't help but clutch his fist in glee as he got what he wanted out of the exam albeit not the way that he had expected.

"Yes!"

"Gaara, as a jinchuuriki is a critical part of the invasion. They plan for Gaara to unleash the demon whilst he is in the middle of the village and have the bijuu wreak havoc on Konoha. That is why it is imperative that you kill the jinchuuriki." Danzo stated to which Naruto nodded in a serious fashion. He had no problems killing anyone as he had done it multiple times beforehand.

"What happens when you kill a jinchuuriki. I mean there has to be some kind of seal I assume that holds back the beast but what happens to that seal when the person dies?" Naruto questioned as he didn't know as much as he would like to know regarding the topic. He wanted to know what he was getting himself into.

"When a jinchuuriki dies, there is a shockwave of chakra that is sent out of the person as the seal breaks and the chakra of the demon blasts out. Depending on the quality of the seal when the death occurs, the explosion of chakra will be either instant or very shortly after.

When you fight the jinchuuriki, go all out from the start, don't try and hide some of your abilities. Konoha needs to witness your abilities as it will provide a massive boost for the morale of the village." Danzo stated to which Naruto nodded.

Things were about to get interesting for the blonde haired boy very quickly.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

I previously didn't have any characters assigned to this story so when I added them, I got an influx of people reading my story lol. The next chapter might be a little bit longer than normal as I will be moving house this upcoming weekend and have to pack for that. Not a fun thing to do.

Please let me know what you thought of this chapter.


	7. Trying hard to reach out

"So are you guys prepared for this?" Naruto questioned as he ate the food in front of him. He and his two other teammates sat in one of the family owned restaurants. The trio agreed as they wanted to catch up one last time before they could potentially face one another during the exams. Well Choji and Ino were already resigned to the fact that they would be facing one another as they were scheduled to fight each other in the first round. Meanwhile, Naruto was scheduled to fight Sasuke Uchiha.

"Yeah, for sure!" Ino grinned. She had spent the good part of the month absolutely training her but off. She was as ready as she would ever be. Choji was much the same in the way that he stated that he was ready for this.

Naruto was somewhat satisfied but he had concerns that ranged far beyond the exams. He didn't want to see any of his friends get any sort of permanent injury. The invasion that is coming up was constantly plaguing the mind of the young boy. Obviously he was under oath of the mission that he was partaking in so that he couldn't tell his friends but he wanted them to make sure that they would be fine during the invasion.

"What about you Naruto, are you ready, I mean you're going up against Sasuke-kun." Ino questioned although she mostly added the –kun on the end of Sasuke's name out of habit. The blonde haired girl had noticed that over the space of the six months that she had been away from the academy, her crush on the Uchiha had dwindled significantly. Ino put this down to the fact that she was not seeing him every day to reinforce the crush that she had on him. It also helped that she noticed that there were other fish in the see.

Naruto smirked a confident smirk that Ino couldn't help but linger on. "Pfft. Sasuke is the least of my worries. I have been training for my fight against Gaara in the finals because I know that that is who I will be up against."

As Naruto said this Ino couldn't help but agree with him. From what she had seen of Sasuke, he was nowhere near as good as the image Ino from the academy had painted of him. The fight he had in the preliminaries looked like something that Sasuke was really struggling with against a weak opponent. That in comparison to what she knew Naruto was capable of before the month of training meant that in her mind that there was no contest despite whatever Sasuke learnt in the month leading up to the exam.

What Ino didn't know was that Sasuke had been weakened significantly and was under the effects of the cursed seal. With a full month of adjusting to the cursed seal, Sasuke was going to be a much more difficult opponent.

Ino was broken out of her musings when Naruto spoke up. "You guys, I know this may sound like me being a dick but… whichever one of you guys has to face Gaara in the semi-final, I want you to promise me that you will forfeit your match. Gaara is simply too strong for you guys. He is not normal."

Choji was unconvinced. "What about you Naruto, what if you have to face Gaara in the finals? Are you going to quit then." There was a look of seriousness on the face of Naruto when he heard this.

"I can't." Both his team mates looked at him weird, waiting for an explanation. "My sensei during the month was someone high up enough to the point where he can assign people missions and he gave me one where I have to win the chunin exams. It was about how Konoha needs someone to win the exams and he thinks that I am the best person capable of that."

This just confused Ino even more. "But obviously you want to win so how does that justify as a mission? With it being a mission, it means that you have to put your life on the line for unnecessary reward. That sounds stupid with no benefit." Ino responded with a frown on her face.

Naruto shook his head. "The mission isn't just that but I am not allowed to tell you any more than that as it is classified. After the exams are over, I will confirm if I am allowed to tell you guys about it." Naruto stated to which the two nodded. They understood what the word classified meant.

There was relative silence that happened after Naruto said this. There were a lot of things going through his mind and none of them happened to be related to his upcoming fight in the chunin exams.

Once the trio of shinobi finished their breakfast, they each headed to the cauldron. Their lives would never be the same after this day.

**x-X-x**

As this was happening, there was a man who was very curious as to the outcome of the chunin exams. That man was none other than Jiraiya. He desperately wanted to watch his godson in action.

He would have liked to have spent the previous month training his godson but unfortunately for him, duty stood in the way. He had been given an order by not only his boss but also his sensei to train his sensei's grandson. Jiraiya wished he had the ability in him to say no to a mission but he didn't.

He would have much rather spent the time teaching Minato's son but instead he was stuck with looking over the seal that held back the Kyubi. He was under direct orders to sign Konohamaru to the Toad contract. This was something that Jiraiya actually didn't agree to. Instead he told the Sandaime that he would judge the boy on merit and if he was worthy, he would sign the boy to the contract.

The thing was, Konohamaru was actually a fairly likeable kid and he had nothing against the boy. He even found it admirable as he was going to beat some sense into the Hyuga kid for what he did to his cousin.

Jiraiya simply thought that the Toad Clan would have no objection to having two summoners when he signed Naruto to it in the future. That was something that Jiraiya wasn't concerned about.

What he was definitely concerned about was the fact of who happened to be the boy's sensei during the previous month. It was none other than Danzo. That was a recipe for disaster if Jiraiya ever saw one. He did not trust the actions of Danzo for a second and wasn't going to trust the life of his godson.

When he had gone to spy on the two of them, all Jiraiya ever spotted was Naruto working on his taijutsu, Fuinjutsu or simply talking with Danzo. All of this happened in a wide open field. Danzo was obviously not doing this out of the goodness of his heart and there was definitely some ulterior motive but Jiraiya couldn't think of what it was.

If he wanted to make the boy into a mindless drone, this was not the correct place to do it at. Also, Naruto was far too high profile of a political figure for something like this to not get noticed. Jiraiya concluded that Danzo wasn't trying to make Naruto into one of his mindless but outside of that, he had no idea.

The problem was, because he hadn't built up any form of bond with Naruto, he couldn't just simply go up to the boy and break the up the conversation that the two were having. He had no right to be able to do that without dropping the bombshell that was Naruto's parents' identity. That was not something that he wanted to deal with.

The fact was that he simply had to wait until the exams or rather the invasion was over before he could properly introduce himself to Minato's son.

Jiraiya also happened to be beyond curious as to what sort of shinobi Naruto was. When he first came back to the village, he spoke with his sensei who relayed what he had seen during the preliminaries. That was not that much… The one thing that Naruto had on his side was his speed and that he could pack a mean punch.

Outside of that, Jiraiya had no idea just how good the boy was. Of course, he had heard all the praise in the world coming from Asuma but he wasn't going to believe that until he saw the kid in action.

It was clear to the Toad Sannin that he would just have to be patient. He didn't like the sound of that.

**x-X-x**

Hiruzen sat in his seat, patiently waiting for his chunin exams to start. Chatter was rampant in the stands as they rather impatiently waited for their chance to see the best up and coming shinobi that the world had to offer.

As far as Hiruzen was concerned, this was finally the chance to see just how good of a Shinobi Minato's son was. He had heard glowing reviews from his student and he was finally going to get to see the boy fight properly.

He could easily tell that during the fight with the puppet user, Naruto was holding himself back and not showing all of his skills. Up against someone like Sasuke Uchiha and if he made it to the next round his grandson was going to be a far greater test than what Naruto had seen so far. Hiruzen was confident though that Naruto wouldn't make it to the grand final as he personally had been training his grandson.

He didn't want to put the young boy's life at risk if he could avoid it and Hiruzen much rather preferred to have jinchuuriki vs jinchuuriki rather than lose a political piece such as young Naruto.

As he looked down at the arena where the genin stood, Hiruzen noticed that there was one crucial absentee. That was the last loyal Uchiha to konoha. Because of his status, it was kind of paramount that he actually attends the event and put on a good show. It would do wonders for the economy of konoha as faith would be restored in the ability to protect the people.

When questioned about the appearance or lack thereof of the Uchiha, Hiruzen decided on delaying the start of the chunin exams for 15 minutes so that Sasuke would have enough time to arrive.

When he heard this, Naruto was heavily annoyed. He hated people that got special treatment. He was someone that worked his guts off and got to where he was through sheer hard work and determination. Nothing was given to him on a silver platter and no one gave him any breaks in life.

He hated favouritism, he absolutely hated it. The blonde genin lived by the motto that you have to earn your living. If Naruto got handed a whole wad of cash, it wouldn't feel anywhere near as good as money that he had put in the hard work to obtain through his own means.

In any fashion it at least let the trio of Team Ten talk amongst themselves for a little while. Konohamaru, being a social creature decided that he was going to and join the conversation. "Hey guys, are you guys ready for the finals?" Konohamaru questioned as he had a massive grin on his face.

Naruto scoffed whilst Choji decided to entertain the boy in a conversation. "Yeah, we are. We have to be as these exams are going to be really tough."

This didn't deter or faze Konohamaru as the grin on his face stayed there. "Well I reckon I'm going to win it all! I was training really hard over this past month with my grandpa and Jiraiya-sensei. I doubt anyone else got to train with people that strong."

When he heard this Naruto chuckled. "Just because you got stronger, what makes you think that you're going to make it to the final? All of the other people here have been getting stronger and from what I saw during the preliminaries, you need all the help you can get since you can't win by skill as you have to resort to getting lucky and farting."

Cue the embarrassment for Konohamaru as he never got to live that down. His grandfather constantly reminded him about it when they were training. "Shut up teme! I was fighting at a handicap against Kiba! Orochimaru placed a seal on my chakra network which screwed up my chakra control really bad. Now that I have had that removed and trained, you will see when I smash your face in. Oh wait a minute, you won't get there 'cause Sasuke-teme will beat you!" Konohamaru stated as he engaged in what he thought was banter. Naruto and the others didn't see it that way.

He saw the insult though and decided to engage his potential future opponent. "So I destroyed the person who you tried to fight in the middle of the street and got nervous all over. Neji is someone who is stronger than me. Do you really think you have a chance?" Naruto questioned to which Konohamaru stumbled for a second before his bravado returned.

"I guess we will just have to wait and see teme!" Konohamaru angrily replied angrily before turning his attention to his grandfather up in the box. Naruto grinned whilst Choji looked at Naruto unconvinced.

"Do you really think you're weaker than Neji?" Choji whispered to which Naruto shook his head.

"Nah… but he doesn't know that." Naruto replied with a grin that had mischievous written all over it.

The trio of shinobi that made up Team Ten didn't have to wait that long at all as Gemna Shiranui who was the proctor for the final exam apparently started speaking to the hopefuls. "Listen up kids. The games are about to start so everyone but Konohamaru Sarutobi and Neji Hyuga can all go and wait in the stands for the match to finish." Gemna stated to which all of the chunin hopefuls nodded and made their way to the room.

Naruto was the last to make his way up as he wanted to survey the crowd one last time. This was finally his big break as far as he was concerned. If he put in a good performance in here, then many people would know his name and that would mean that he would have more chances to make a lot of money.

He couldn't help but grin.

**x-X-x**

Kakashi couldn't help but be impressed with what he saw. Admittedly, he had made it in half way through the fight but from what he had seen, he was impressed with Konohamaru. Obviously, the boy was destined to be much stronger since he had the Sandaime training him during the finals but he didn't expect the boy to have access to two elements! His use of doton was quite remarkable for someone who knew nothing about the subject a month ago. His fire manipulation was something that Kakashi assumed that Konohamaru got through sheer brute force.

It this wasn't proof that Konohamaru was going to be a ninjutsu juggernaut then he didn't know what would. There was no doubt in the mind of Kakashi that the Sandaime was going to train his grandson in the ability to use all five elements since he had the kyubi backing him. It would mean that the boy would be able to consistently fire off high ranking jutsu after high ranking jutsu.

Konohamaru wasn't without his faults though as he was still very rough around the edges which actually surprised Kakashi as he thought that that would have been something that the man would have focused on during their training but apparently they had not. It seemed to the silver haired man that Hiruzen obviously wanted to fast track as much strength into the boy as soon as possible.

He didn't know the game plan of his hokage but Kakashi assumed that it might have been the knowledge of the impending invasion that made Hiruzen decide to speed up the training of Konohamaru as they could go into a war anytime soon after the invasion. They didn't know what Kumo or Iwa would do once word got out to them.

Also, with that Gaara kid being a jinchuuriki, it also meant that Konohamaru would probably have to be the one to fight up against the boy. It was best if his student was as prepared as possible.

Kakashi smiled under the mask as he watched his most exuberant student race up the stairs, much to the applause of the crowd. They had gotten to witness a very thrilling match and they were mightily impressed with the Sandaime's grandson.

A bittersweet feeling encapsulated Kakashi though as he realised who it was that his other student in the exams was going to go up against. It was none other than his sensei's son and honestly, despite knowing that he should be rooting for Sasuke Uchiha, he wasn't Kakashi wanted to find out more about his sensei's son. He couldn't root for either promising shinobi as he felt bad for the other.

The silver haired man gave a quick glance to the side and noticed how Gai had an uncharacteristically serious look on his face. The slightest of nods came from his jonin comrade. Kakashi responded the gesture as a form of thanks. The understanding that the two of them shared was something that very people could ever put down into words.

**x-X-x**

Thankfully for Naruto, Sasuke had managed to arrive through the fight between Neji and Konohamaru. Admittedly, Naruto was very surprised that Konohamaru managed to defeat Neji because Neji was definitely no slouch.

When he hit the sixty four palms, Naruto, like most people in the arena thought the fight was over. As the red chakra came from the body of Konohamaru though, Naruto was confident that he had figured out why the Sarutobi got back up. The signs that Konohamaru was showing were very similar to what Naruto had been briefed on by Danzo as to what Gaara could do.

It would also explain the large chakra pool that the boy had which was even bigger than Naruto's own which was bordering on special jonin level already. Yeah, Naruto was fairly confident that Konohamaru was a jinchuuriki of some sort and that the only Bijuu which fit the time and place would have been the Kyubi.

Naruto knew that his match with the boy just got that much harder.

His attention to Konohamaru was broken when he heard the fight had started. Naruto quickly shook himself right and got into a defensive taijutsu stance.

Sasuke who was looking on decided to try and take advantage of the transparent looks on the face of Naruto. He rushed forward as Naruto quickly got into the same taijutsu stance that ended Kankuro.

The main difference between Sasuke and Kankuro though was the fact that Kankuro was slow in comparison. Heck, the blonde noticed that Sasuke was as fast as himself! This was coming from what he had seen during the prelims was staggering.

The guard of went up before Sasuke could get in striking distance and land a blow. This didn't deter the black haired boy as he launched a vicious right handed hook to the face of Naruto. It was clear to all of the season fighters in attendance that Sasuke wasn't pulling any punches.

This was what Naruto wanted. He didn't want a fight that was measly in comparison to what he was going to get against Gaara. He wanted to warm himself up rather than go into the fight with Gaara completely cold. What Naruto didn't expect was just how good Sasuke was at the moment.

Surely no one could improve that much in such a small space of time which made Naruto think that maybe he was better but just either hid it or was suffering from something during the chunin exams.

That seemed a lot more plausible to Naruto as the rookie of the year below surely couldn't be that bad.

Naruto dodged the incoming attack and countered with a punch of his own. The difference being Naruto jabbed and Sasuke used a hook. Neither punch landed on their respective opponent as Sasuke was using his sharingan.

_Damn, this guy is as fast as what Lee was without the weights. How did he get so fast? _As Sasuke was thinking this, Naruto couldn't help but gape. Here he was mightily thankful that he had continued his harsh physical training as otherwise he would have been in for a world of hurt.

Annoyed that his speed wasn't his biggest trump card as that was what one of the things that he had been working on during the break, Sasuke pushed that little bit harder in offence. The raven haired boy sent more chakra through his legs as he pushed forward and attempted to punch Naruto.

He succeeded. He hit Naruto's skin but that was from Naruto blocking the attack rather than dodging it. The blonde dodged it whilst holding up his forearm to which Sasuke grimaced when he connected with Naruto. He didn't know his fist would hurt from punching someone.

Pain was nothing new to the Uchiha though as he persevered through the pain and jabbed Naruto with his left hand. It was only the slightest of glances to the right shoulder of Naruto but it gave Sasuke confidence in that his attacks were working. It was all thanks to the sharingan so he could follow the movements of his enemy.

The moment of hesitation that Sasuke had from getting a hit on Naruto allowed the blonde to return the gesture in kind. Instead of it being a punch though, it was a kick as powerfully as Naruto could right into the mid-thigh area of Sasuke's left leg.

As Naruto grinned in satisfaction, Sasuke grimaced in actual pain as Naruto could certainly pack some force behind those kicks. He definitely didn't want to get hit by one of those again. Sasuke knew that he was lucky it was in the dense muscle and not something like a bone which could easily break.

After connecting his foot to the thigh of Sasuke, Naruto knew that it was high time to go on the offense as he knew that the more energy he saved, the better. He was not sure how long this fight with Gaara was going to go for but he wanted to be as prepared as possible.

Naruto spotted the slightest of limps on the leg that he had just kicked so he knew that he had something to work with. Naruto launched another kick to the leg of Sasuke but thankfully for the uchiha's sake, he had the presence of mind to dodge the incoming attack. Naruto grinned. He sprinted forward as he saw his opponent make his mistake.

Sasuke jumping up in the air to dodge the attack as it allowed Naruto the chance to predict where he was going to land. Naruto pulled out three shuriken and threw them in the right in line with where Sasuke was going to land.

Sasuke managed to block these with his sharingan and a kunai at hand before he threw the kunai in retaliation. Naruto dodged the attack and slid along the ground heels first into Sasuke's ankle the second it would hit the ground.

Sasuke smirked when he saw this. Naruto left himself wide open for an attack and Sasuke raised the leg that Naruto was aiming for if only slightly. He wanted to keep the illusion that Naruto could go for it. Right at the last second, Sasuke pulled the leg that Naruto was aiming for. Sasuke planned to land on his other leg and smash Naruto in the face with his foot.

This was what Naruto wanted as he immediately changed direction and went after the foot that had just been planted on the ground with a powerful fist right into the Achilles tendon. Now the Uchiha were never known for being a vocal clan but in this case, Sasuke took an exception as he vented the pain that his ankle was going through.

Naruto didn't waste any time and immediately went on the offensive as he purposefully brought the bones in his limbs right beneath the surface just so that his hits had that little bit extra oomph behind them.

The blonde haired boy took another quick jab into the ankle before getting up and gave his opponent a sweeping leg kick on the same very ankle. Naruto could tell that something had been done as Sasuke quickly brought his other foot down to the ground and favoured leaning on it. Naruto only paused for a split second though as he continued the assault.

_I can't block attacks. I have to dodge and turn this into a ninjutsu fight. I have to use chakra to keep up at that speed whereas it looks like he doesn't have to. _Sasuke thought to himself as he grimaced slightly when he put some weight on his ankle. Naruto had been on the offensive for the past five minutes and had progressively gotten more hits in on his opponent, the longer that time went on as Sasuke's chakra supply was getting smaller and smaller.

The Uchiha jumped back and quickly went through the hand seals of the trademark jutsu of the Uchiha clan. "Two can play at that game" Naruto called out as he went through the exact same hand seals and launched a more powerful version of the giant fireball.

It just went to show what a primary element did for you as Sasuke's primary was lightning. Naruto got to use less chakra and still have a more powerful and potent fireball which battled Sasuke's for a few seconds before it overpowered it and headed for the raven haired teen.

Naruto wasn't one to rest on his laurels though. Naruto went through some more hand seals as the fireball was heading for Sasuke. "Katon: Hosenka no jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix flower jutsu.)" Naruto called out as he shot three smaller fireballs either side of the large one just to make it that much harder for his opponent to escape without any damage.

Sasuke waited until the last second and then dodged the incoming fireball and his sharingan eyes started spinning as he rapidly took in the incoming ball of heat. He didn't have enough time to dodge the attack so Sasuke did the best thing he could. He turned around and copped the fireball into his back and hoped for the best.

Naruto grinned when he saw that his jutsu had hit Sasuke and immediately sprinted as fast as he could and punched Sasuke as hard as he could in the face and as this happened, Naruto felt the bones in Sasuke's jaw breaking.

The blonde haired boy knew that he had won the fight from this point as he slammed his elbow into the temple of his opponent which forced the boy into the land of dreams.

"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki!" Gemna called out to a stunned into silence crowd.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Unfortunately, this chapter took a little bit longer than normal as I was in the process of moving houses but the chapters should be more like usual.


	8. But when I tried to speak out

Everyone was stunned into silence from what they saw. No one, especially not Orochimaru who was sitting in a prime position could believe what he had just seen. The fabled Sasuke Uchiha, last of the famed sharingan clan was no longer a participant of the chunin exams. This wasn't from a lack of trying but Sasuke was simply outclassed by his opponent. The surprising thing for Orochimaru was the fact that he was surprised at how bad the boy's tactical abilities were. Surely Sasuke would have realised that that Naruto boy was able to keep up with him despite not using chakra in his limbs and then switch to something else much sooner.

It was easy to see just how much of an ego that Sasuke had as he refused to switch to genjutsu during the fight. Orochimaru wasn't sure whether or not this was because of the fact that he hated Itachi or he simply didn't know any. Orochimaru liked to think that his future host knew a fair few genjutsu but if not, it wouldn't be that hard to teach him a few.

What it did tell the snake Sannin though was just how bendable Sasuke was as he you could very easily manipulate him through his pride.

Despite the fact that he had lost his fight, Orochimaru was more than impressed with the performance on display. In fact, now that he thought about it. Having Sasuke lose was actually kind of good. Sasuke saw the amount of progress he was capable of achieving as he saw the boy a month ago and he had improved significantly.

The loss would be something that he could no doubt manipulate to make the boy come and join his side but that wasn't the thing that made Orochimaru internally cackle at the situation at hand.

Just from a glance, he could tell who the boy who had just beaten Sasuke Uchiha was. He was Minato's brat as he was essentially a carbon copy of his father. What was even more intruiging for Orochimaru was the fact that judging from the looks on the face of his former sensei, Hiruzen was looking at the boy for the first time as well. If that was the case then that meant that the boy would probably be very isolated as a kid as he knew his sensei all too well. There was no doubt in the mind of Orochimaru that Hiruzen held resentment for the fact that it was his grandson who was the host of the Kyubi and not Minato's son.

He probably forced those who were close to the Minato to stay away from the boy. Now seeing just how much talent he had, he probably wanted to get the boy into his back pocket since he showed such promise.

Well two could play at that game and Orochimaru decided that he would have to look into Minato's son further as he could be a viable host if something happened to Sasuke.

**x-X-x**

Orochimaru wasn't the only Sannin who was impressed with what they saw of one Naruto Uzumaki. Jiraiya was much more vocal about his praise for the boy as he cheered him on the completion of his match. Just form watching Naruto, he could tell that the boy had as much potential as at least his mother but it was leaning more towards the camp of his father.

Naruto just so happened to be as fast as Minato at the same age but he looked like he had a completely different skillset as a fighter. The Yondaime Hokage was always a finesse style fighter whereas Naruto was more like his mother in the sense that he seemed to like brute force and strength.

Jiraiya couldn't help but grin. That was the type of shinobi that he liked because it was very similar to himself. Then there was the fact that Naruto had a fire element just like he himself had. Judging from the looks of things, he had a pretty strong one at that.

Yes, he could definitely see why Asuma was raving on about the boy's potential but in his opinion, from what he had seen, Naruto was good, if not great for his age but he wasn't the once in a generation talent like his father at least from what he had shown so far. Jiraiya hoped that there was more to Naruto than what he had just seen. Well, he would be going up against Konohamaru so Jiraiya was confident that the boy would push Naruto just that little bit harder than what the Uchiha did.

**x-X-x**

"Woot go Naruto!" Ino cheered as she watched her team mate win his fight against his opponent. The fact that she previously had feelings for said opponent did not matter. The blonde haired girl was happy for the fact that Naruto won. If she was completely honest with herself she was kind of glad that Naruto won rather than Sasuke as Naruto was her team mate, he was the one who she spent time with but most importantly, he was her friend. Sasuke on the other hand wasn't and he was as fun as eating wet puzzle pieces wrapped around bits of chewed off eraser.

Sakura, who was nearby but not in the competitors area watched this and was completely surprised at the fact that her former best friend was cheering for her supposed crush's defeat. _Maybe she really has changed over these past few months like she had telling me. I guess now we can be friends again since she isn't interested in Sasuke-kun! _Sakura thought to herself happy at the fact that she would be able to get her friend back.

What the pink haired girl didn't realise was the fact that Ino had moved on. She had tried to be friends with Sakura but the team seven genin had through all of those attempts right back in her face. It wasn't just that though, Ino realised just how weak Sakura was and to be honest. She didn't want to be friends with someone who didn't take their shinobi training seriously.

Death was a very serious thing in their profession and Ino, as selfish as it sounded, didn't want to see other people that she was close to die yet again. She had already been through it enough with Shikamaru and she had every intention of keeping it at just her former team mate.

Sakura who had the exact same motivation to train as Shikamaru was someone who there was a very high likelihood of something bad happening. Sakura really needed to take things seriously as being a shinobi wasn't just a job. It was a way of life and if you didn't put in absolutely everything, you were going to get killed if not worse.

Before she could go any more into her thoughts, Ino was interrupted by the voice of the chunin exam proctor permeating the air. It was now time for something very important to the blonde haired girl. It was her fight with Chouji and it was something that she was both excited and apprehensive about.

She turned to Naruto for support but he didn't have a grin on his face like he normally did. "I'm not going to cheer for either of you because I think that that would be unfair for the other person. Good luck Ino and Choji and may the better ninja win." Naruto stated as Ino noticed that Choji was also looking at Naruto for advice.

Ino realised just how much stronger Naruto was than herself and Choji in that moment despite not even displaying any skill. The simple fact that they both turned to him for advice and guidance said it all really. Even if Ino was the strategist out of the three of them, Naruto simply had this leadership quality that none of them could match.

**x-X-x**

"Winner of this match and advancing through to the next round is Ino Yamanaka!" Despite the fact that she had just won the fight, it felt like a hollow victory for the blonde haired girl. Choji was still not over his fear of hurting his team mates in a competitive match as she noticed that there were several times that he pulled back slightly and those seconds, if he had carried out with his hit from the start would have meant that there was a different winner.

Sure, she didn't like hurting her team mates but she wasn't afraid to do what was necessary. That was the difference in the end. The winner was the person who had the bigger balls and that turned out to be Ino.

To the civilian eyes though, they couldn't have cared any less. If it was at all possible, they loved this fight more than the fight with the underdog and the Uchiha clan heir. This was a fight of two completely different fighting styles whereas the fight between Naruto and Sasuke was brawn vs brawn with Naruto coming out on top. On the other hand, Ino v Choji was finesse and strategy vs brawn with their being multiple near misses but in the end it was an amazing fight for the crowd to watch. It was long but not a single spectator thought that it was drawn out and slow paced. There was always something going on.

Ino winced as she clutched her right triceps as Choji had managed to hit it hard and cork the muscle. Outside of that and quite a large amount of bruises, that was all the damage that had been done for the girl. Choji was similar except for a cut that sliced a little deep into the shoulder muscle.

The train of thought was interrupted by the proctor of the match. "Winner by forfeit is Gaara Sabaku." The three shinobi turned their head around at a fast pace and noticed that the blonde haired girl from Sunagakure had just thrown in the proverbial white towel.

To be honest, this wasn't something that Naruto hadn't already though of but it did disappoint him. Here he was hoping that he would have been able to find out some more information about Gaara.

"With the fight between Gaara Sabaku and Temari Sabaku being the final round of the quarter finals, can Konohamaru Sarutobi and Naruto Uzumaki please come down to the arena for the first semi final!" The resulting booing from the forfeit was replaced with cheering.

They knew that that Konohamaru was definitely a good shinobi as it was in his genes and that Uzumaki kid had shown real promise as he had managed to defeat Sasuke Uchiha as well as being the third priced favourite to win the tournament itself behind Gaara and Neji Hyuga, they were very much interested in watching this match.

"Good luck Naruto!" Ino cheered for her team mate and gave him a hug. There was a slight change in complexion for the Uzumaki's face but he had the sense of mind to return the hug. Konohamaru who was looking on was a bit miffed to say the least.

It wasn't just the fact that he thought Ino was fairly attractive and the fact that she was actually a pretty good kunoichi but mostly how his opponent was getting encouragement from people he cared about whilst he was getting none. Both of his team mates had been knocked out of the tournament although, to be fair, Konohamaru seriously doubted whether or not Sasuke would cheer for him even if he was here.

Konohamaru made his way down the stairs whilst Naruto shunshined into the arena. There was a massive grin on the face of Naruto as he couldn't wait for this. Ever since learning about jinchuuriki and watching Konohamaru's previous fight, the blonde haired, blue eyed boy was keen to have a spar before the real deal in his next match. The other reason why Naruto was excited was that there was no doubt with being a jinchuuriki, Konohamaru was definitely going to favour using ninjutsu as his primary form of offense and defence.

This for Naruto was a fresh change of pace. He was used to going blow for blow in a taijutsu fight. His fight with Naruto was definitely going to be a dick measuring ninjutsu battle.

"You won't be getting lucky like you did against Sasuke-teme. I'm going to be winning this fight, going on to win the exams and finally take the hat off my grandpa!" Konohamaru boasted proudly enough that everyone in the arena got to hear him.

The grin that was on the face of Naruto was gone and a smirk replaced it. "Please, do you really think you have a chance of any of that? You're about to go one on one, mono e mono up against the great one and by the time I've gone to Suna, Iwa, Kiri, Kumo and finally back via Kirigakure, I will layeth the smacketh down on your candy ass! After this, I will be known as The People's Champion and I will become the Hokage!" Admittedly, he was saying that he would become the Hokage just to spite his opponent but then when he thought about it, being famous, having tons of money, a mountain with his face on it but most importantly… money. It actually didn't sound that bad.

Of course, Naruto was solely thinking of the positives and had never given the negatives of the position a single thought but hey… he was a kid.

Naruto saw the fury on the face of the scarf wearing boy and he grinned. He knew that he had gotten underneath the skin of his opponent.

Gemna, like most shinobi after having seen the quarter finals eagerly wanted to find out just how good these two were. That was why he didn't wait all that long at all to start the match. The resulting cheer only further served to add pressure onto the shinobi in question but they didn't hide from it, they relished in it.

"Begin!" And the second that Gemna called this, Naruto was off like a rocket. This was a stark contrast compared to the fact that in all of his other fights including his preliminary round fight against Kankuro, he was very much a defensive based fighter. Naruto was hoping to catch his opponent off guard.

He did and his speed was simply too much for Konohamaru to react when not prepared. Naruto punched hard to the face of Konohamaru right along the jawline. Since he didn't have his knuckles brought to the forefront of his fists, Naruto's punch didn't carry as much damage in it as it could have done. That being said, it was more than enough to be able to make Konohamaru aware of just how much damage his opponent could do. Naruto followed it up with a kick to the stomach of his opponent which made the boy skid along the ground due to the force.

Naruto continued the chase for his opponent as Konohamaru did a flip and went through some hand seals very quickly. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" The scarf wearing genin called out as he fired of his jutsu. Naruto had to backpedal as he himself went through the hand signs and released the exact same jutsu although Naruto's was much hotter and more potent. It just went to show that learning elemental manipulation happened to be very beneficial.

The two fireballs collided and it was Naruto's one that won out in the end as his stalled for a little bit before pushing onto Konohamaru. After having seen what happened to Sasuke, Konohamaru made sure that something like that didn't happen again. "Doton: Doryuheki no jutsu (Earth Release: Earth Wall Jutsu and a 6 foot tall wall quickly rose out of the ground and blocked the fire from hitting Konohamaru.

Naruto wasn't one to rest on his laurels though as he jumped on top of the wall and peered down. To his surprise when he looked below the wall, he didn't see any sign of his opponent at all. The blonde haired boy quickly assumed that Konohamaru had done some kind of jutsu and went underground.

Naruto decided to stand on top of the earth wall as it would give him the greatest viewpoint in the stadium and would make it that much harder for Naruto to get caught off guard. He would be able to solely focus on his reaction times on the dirt beneath him. Well, that was until he saw something out of the corner of his eye. _That must be one of the clones that he used in his fight against Neji! _

Naruto stayed on top of the wall as he waited until the clone got towards him and punched it hard in the face. It immediately dispelled and Naruto turned around to face the other direction and saw another Konohamaru coming at him. _This must be the real one! _Naruto thought to himself as he waited for it and gave it a hard kick which dispelled the jutsu. _Shit, it was just a clone! _Before Naruto had any time to think things through, Konohamaru had already come up out of the wall that he was standing on and gave Naruto a powerful uppercut to the jaw. Konohamaru knew though that one punch was not enough to secure the victory so he gave two more to the stomach of Naruto as they were falling towards the ground.

Naruto blocked the second punch. He also channelled his chakra into his hand and allowed his knuckles to become more pronounced and gave a very fast jab to the jaw of Konohamaru which rocked the boy.

To be honest, Naruto was impressed with the stamina that his opponent had. He didn't know many people who could survive that many of his punches and come back without their being any sign that he had even done any damage.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu! (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Jutsu)" Konohamaru called out as he launched yet another fireball in the direction of Naruto. Instead of fighting fire with fire, this time Naruto dodged it and turned and faced Konohamaru. Naruto noticed that his opponent didn't even show any signs of chakra exhaustion yet. It was during this that he had an epiphany, he couldn't go jutsu for jutsu in a pissing contest with Konohamaru as he would certainly lose. That didn't even factor in the fact that he would be going up against another jinchuuriki in the next fight being the grand final.

He knew that he had to end this fast. Naruto ran forward towards Konohamaru but unfortunately for him, Naruto had to dodge the efforts of Konohamaru who wanted to keep the fight long ranged. The scarf wearing boy had his hands in the final seal of the Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Flame Jutsu) and he was constantly firing off small fireballs in the direction of Naruto.

It was keeping Naruto at bay as his opponent was a jinchuuriki and could keep using jutsu after jutsu and not get tired. It annoyed the blonde how he had to work so hard for his gains in the stamina department whilst Konohamaru just got born with godlike stamina. To be fair though, Naruto knew that he couldn't complain as he had a bloodline himself which most people couldn't say.

It wasn't all sunshine and roses for Konohamaru though as he was starting to feel slightly fatigued. Ever since he had been told that he was a jinchuuriki of the Kyubi no Kitsune, it explained a lot of things to the youngest member of the Sarutobi clan. It explained why he always had trouble learning the clone jutsu and why Ebisu in the end decided to teach him the shadow clone technique after getting the approval of his grandfather. It also gave Konohamaru answers to some stray thoughts that he had been having along the lines of being different to other kids. Whenever he would play ninja with everyone, all of the other kids would eventually tire out over the course of the game but he never did. He never really thought much of it but now he at least knew why that was the case.

The answers to some lingering questions that Konohamaru had weren't just positive questions though as he found out why some people would give him foul looks. Even if he wasn't the most switched on kid, Konohamaru knew that those looks weren't because of the harmless pranks that he used to pull. They were looking at him that way because of the fact that he had a demon sealed inside his stomach.

Thankfully any of the bad thoughts that he had were quickly pushed away by his grandfather who use the analogy of the kunai and the storage scroll as a way of making Konohamaru aware of the difference. He did make a note of just how dangerous the chakra was and that he had to be very careful with it.

The best way that Konohamaru had decided to combat that was to become so strong on his own that he wouldn't need the Kyubi. For the Sandaime Hokage this was the perfect answer that he wanted to hear. That was because he knew more about being a jinchuuriki than his grandson did and that the Kyubi, having watched Kushina and Mito really only augmented your own power rather than giving you a completely new power.

And that was exactly what the two members of the Sarutobi clan focused on. The duo focused increasing the speed and power of his attacks as he knew he would need that given his opponents. The other physical thing that Konohamaru worked on was the speed in which he could go through hand seals. Given the fact that Hiruzen was grooming the boy to be a ninjutsu juggernaut, he would need to be able to use jutsu after jutsu and the best way to stream line that process was to work on hand seals.

From that point on Konohamaru took a test to find out what element he was in alignment with and found out that it was the earth element. Hiruzen grinned when he saw that as it meant that his grandson would have good foundation to build from.

With very basic elemental training, Konohamaru was able to get all three of the doton techniques down in a week and a half. This left the other two and a half weeks for him to focus on Katon jutsus. It required a lot of brute force but Konohamaru was able to use two elements as a genin. Hiruzen couldn't be any prouder.

Being able to use two elements in fighting situations though didn't mean shit when you had someone like Naruto charging at you. Sure, you could stall him with jutsus which was exactly what Konohamaru was trying to do but even he, as a jinchuuriki was feeling the pinch on his reserves.

It was clear to those watching in the stands that the brown haired boy was not using his favourite element. The speed in which he could use the jutsu was coming slower and slower as time went by but that was not the only thing that was affected. The potency of the fireballs he was shooting was slowly decreasing.

Naruto decreased the gap between the two of them so that if the way that they were going it would only take another minute if that before he reached striking distance of Konohamaru._ This has going on far too long. I need to end this now. Well, Danzo-sensei did state that he wanted me to save my bloodline until the finals so I guess this is now as good a time as ever. _Naruto thought to himself as he continued running and pointed his fingers at Konohamaru. "Teshi Sendan ( Ten Drilling Finger Bullets" Naruto called out to much surprise not just his opponent.

Unlike all of the others in attendance, Konohamaru didn't have the time to gape in surprise at what Naruto had just done like everyone in the crowd was doing. Instead he had to dodge the incoming projectiles as they were coming at him mighty fast. Since there were ten of them, it made it just on impossible for Konohamaru to dodge the incoming attacks from the distance they were fire at.

It was impossible for Konohamaru to dodge all of them as unfortunately one of the bullets grazed his right leg and caused the brown haired boy to stumble. This change of pace was enough for Naruto Uzumaki to capitalize on.

_Now that I have shown the world that I have the dead bone pulse, I might as well show them just how effective it can be. _Naruto thought to himself as he a bone came out of his wrist into his hand as a makeshift sword and he stabbed it through the collarbone of his opponent.

A large and painful scream was heard as Konohamaru felt a blinding pain in his upper shoulder. He had never felt anything like this before. Gemna who had been watching this fight and extremely surprised at the fact that Naruto had the dead bone pulse bloodline got lost and wasn't paying attention to the match.

The scream of pain and the blood that coated the ground knocked the proctor out of his funk and he looked around to survey his tasks. The fight was clearly over in his opinion with a wound like that being delivered.

"This fight is over! The winner of this fight is Naruto Uzumaki!"

**x-X-x**

Normally, there was this casual eye smile on the face of Kakashi and there was very rarely, if ever a moment that would force the Elite Jonin to change this. Much could be said about Gai, his eternal rival. Now Kakashi and Gai were intently staring at what was right in front of them. None of them could believe the fact that Naruto Uzumaki possessed a bloodline and the kaguya one at that! The thought of someone such as Minato's son having a kekkai genkai so powerful to aid him meant that Naruto pretty much had the world at his fingertips.

That combined with the obvious skill that Naruto had shown meant that he was well on his way to becoming a shinobi that his parents would be proud of. There was only one question that it left in the mind of Kakashi? How in the blue hell did Naruto get the bloodline in his system?

Well Kakashi knew that Minato's ancestors originated from Kirigakure but he had no idea that they were connected to the kaguya clan. Even still, the silver haired Jonin thought that it was a bit far fetched for Naruto to have the bloodline solely from Minato as his sensei had never once shown any attributes to being a bloodline holder. That meant that there had to be something from the other side of the family gene pool.

When it came to being a jinchuuriki and how that affected your genetics, very little was actually known about the process. The general consensus was that the bloodlines came from being the children of jinchuurikis. The problem was though that no one knew what bloodline the Kyubi gave out to its host. It was probably due to the fact that the Shodai's Bijuu suppressant bloodline DNA was inside the child of Mito which prevented the bloodline being passed down. Kakashi also mused that this was probably also the reason why the wood element wasn't passed down.

There was none of that DNA with either Kushina or Minato to affect it this time around and Kakashi was shooting at blanks here but he guessed it probably found the DNA of Minato and instead of giving him a new bloodline from scratch, it gave him the dead bone pulse due to his genetics.

All in all, it meant that Naruto was someone who had even more potential to become just as good as his father when it came to the shinobi arts. From the looks of things, he was well on his way.

**x-X-x**

Orochimaru couldn't help but lick his lips. There was a veritable gold mine of potential right there in front of him just ripe and ready for the pickings. The combination of Minato's natural skill, Kushina's bloodline and chakra reserves along with the dead bone pulse that Naruto was easily on his way to becoming a monster on the battlefield. He could see the boy becoming a mixture of Kimimaro and the Raikage. A boy like that would become the perfect second in command for himself after he took over the body of Sasuke Uchiha.

He was essentially a better version of Kimimaro because Orochimaru seriously doubted that the two bloodline holders came from the same direct gene pool so that would hopefully mean that Naruto didn't carry the same genetics that caused Kimimaro to lose so much of his strength and cardiovascular ability so quickly.

Then there was always the fact that converting the boy and getting him to destroy konoha would be going against absolutely everything Minato and Hiruzen stood for. The joy of looking at their faces after using the Edo Tensei would be amazing! A brief glance to the side showed to the former konoha ninja that Hiruzen was just as shocked at this development as he was and that was good. It meant that the boy had no bonds with the Hokage which would make it easier for young Naruto to join him.

**x-X-x**

Unaware to the thoughts going on in the mind of his former student, Hiruzen couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. Never in a million years did he expect to see konoha with another bloodline. It was even less believable to see it come from none other than the son of Minato and Kushina.

Regardless of the fact that he had a bloodline, Naruto was showing serious promise as a shinobi and it was about time that he reached out to the boy and start training him. Hiruzen was certain that the boy would be a strong shinobi rivalling hopefully his father if given the right circumstances.

Little did he know that he would never get the chance as not just his live but konoha and the entire elemental nations would forever change with this day being the catalyst.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Sorry about the update time, been busy with my personal life but it should change soon. I'm moving into a new apartment today and this will have no internet for the first few weeks so I will more time to write chapters.


	9. Felt like no one could hear me

The intermission was over. It was now time to enter the cauldron and complete the mission that had been given to him by his sensei Danzo. It wasn't enough that he had to get promoted no. Naruto knew what was at stake and what needed to be done. He had to win this fight and win the chunin exams so that Konoha came out of it looking strong. It wasn't just that though. He also had to send a message to the world that Konoha was not one to be messed with.

A jinchuuriki would die today.

Naruto knew that Konoha had to send a strong message out to the world that when you try and attempt to invade Konoha, this is what would happen. There would no doubt be inquiries made into the strength of Konoha after the invasion by other nations looking to take whatever pieces of the puzzle that made up the military landscape.

"Come on Naruto! You can do it!" Choji stated with a smile on his face whilst Ino looked at him for an elongated time before giving him a quick hug.

"Thanks you guys. I needed that" and he truly meant that. Despite the confidence that Naruto had in his abilities, he knew that this was going to be the hardest fight of his life so far. If the full Bijuu ever got released then he knew he stood no chance whatsoever.

The blonde haired boy walked turned around and walked towards the stairs. He didn't want to waste any chakra using a shunshin to get down to the arena. He was taking absolutely every precaution that came to his mind.

Naruto stood there in front of Gaara who was muttering words underneath his breath. He couldn't help but feel that the person or rather thing that he was communicating with was his bijuu. If Gemna noticed this, he didn't make any mention or indicate that he cared about it.

He stared down his opponent with an impassive look on his face. Internally though, he was sweating bullets. This was not your average fight and Naruto was only now starting to realise just what he had signed up for in fighting a bijuu. The problem was though that there was no going back at this point. Far too many innocent people's lives were on the line and that was not something that Naruto wanted to have on his conscience if he could avoid it.

"Congratulations to making it this far into the tournament as we are now at the grand final. The winner of this tournament will be crowned as the champion.  
Gemna loudly stated with chakra enhancing his voice much to the delight of the crowd.

"Naruto! Naruto! Naruto!" The crowd started cheering fanatically as he was the last person to make it to the finals that hailed from Konoha. He was the only local and if there was one thing that was for certain, it was that the locality definitely influenced who was the home crowd favourite.

After having watched Naruto go through the two original favourites for the tournament whilst coming out of nowhere, Naruto was heavily riding the underdog tag. The funny thing was that to everyone in the know, Naruto was far from the underdog. Whilst he may have not been a favourite, he had shown enough during the previous stages that he was no pushover.

With the Hokage having finished giving a speech to thank everyone for coming, it was now that everyone turned their attention to the arena below and Gemna gave the go ahead for the match that everyone wanted to see to go ahead.

Naruto wasted absolutely no time whatsoever as he sprinted off the ground hoping to catch Gaara off guard. As he was rushing towards his opponent, Naruto let his bloodline fully come out to play. Bones started coming out all over his body making it very hard for anything to pierce his skin as it would get caught by a bone before it even reached his skin. It made Naruto naturally a damn good taijutsu counter.

Unfortunately Gaara wasn't a taijutsu based fighter at all and this didn't help Naruto as sand was easily able to get between the bones and attack his skin. That was where his fire element came into play. All of the bones that Naruto had were shining various shades of orange. The parts of his body which were easier for Naruto to channel chakra to were a brighter colour. It just went to show that no matter how much you progressed as a shinobi, there was always somewhere that you could improve on.

Naruto rushed towards Gaara at a speed in which his sand could only barely keep up with and when he tried to swat Naruto down to the ground, the blonde haired genin would simply swipe his arm at the sand. Because of the fire manipulation that Naruto was using, he was turning the sand into glass. On one occasion Naruto sent it back in the direction of Gaara who didn't budge an inch as his automatic defence blocked the incoming shards of glass before returning to the earth below.

Seeing that he wasn't having much luck, Naruto decided that he was going to take a different approach as he hoped that this one would work.

The Uzumaki fired off two hands worth of finger bullets at his enemy whose sand came up to block the rounds. There was cause for concern though as Gaara watched as the bullets kept slowly coming towards him despite his sand's best efforts to keep the calcium at bay. Eventually, the finger bones came to a grinding halt mere millimetres away from Gaara's face but as his focus was on that, it meant that it wasn't on Naruto.

That was a bad game plan.

Naruto was now 10 metres away from Gaara and for all intents and purposes, many of the civilians, academy students and some genin/chunin thought that this was a mistake. Whilst it was obvious that Naruto knew some ninjutsu, it seemed to them that his main strength was taijutsu and that he should stick to that.

They didn't know him well enough.

Naruto pointed one hand to his enemy and then launched another round of finger bullets only these ones were different. All of the bones that Naruto had coming out of his body had an orange tinge to them thanks to the Katon chakra flowing through them. When he fired off his finger bullets though, the colour dissipated as the chakra conductor left his body.

These new ones were different though. There was a reason as to why Naruto could only launch five of them at a time and he had to be standing still to do it. These finger bullets didn't lose the colour that they had when they left Naruto's body. They kept their charge as Naruto watched with intent as they sailed through the air to their target.

Gaara didn't think much more of the slightly different coloured projectiles as he knew that it would make a difference. His sand was impenetrable.

Well, that was what he thought at least because when these bullets hit, they didn't simply try and break through the sand barrier no. Instead they exploded on contact. Fragments of bone shards were sent in all different directions. The fragments flight path was only enhanced by the propulsion coming from the explosion and it made it a much harder job for the sand to come up and defend Gaara.

Out of the 30 shards that came from the explosion, four of them managed to bypass the first layer of defence that Gaara had and careened into the second and final armour that the boy had.

The shards of bone passed through the layer of sand only barely. It was enough that they got in contact with Gaara's skin but unfortunately for Naruto, they were unable to break the skin. For the first time in his life, Gaara felt a feeling he had never felt before. That was physical pain.

"Ahh! Is this what pain is? It must be! Yes, mother will have your blood Uzumaki!" Gaara shouted as the look in his eyes was so far gone. There was even some slight colouration happening to his eyes.

Naruto saw this and knew that he had to up the ante even more. Naruto sped off once more in an effort to get inside the guard of Gaara and deal some serious damage. As far as the blonde haired boy was concerned, everything that had happened so far was all meaningless.

Just like the fights with Rock Lee, the Suna shinobi was at a loss in how to defend himself against fast shinobi. Naruto was doing much the same game plan that his friend had devised. The only difference was that he was able to deal much more damage in the blows he connected as he his bloodline out in full force.

Unfortunately for the genin, it couldn't all be sunshine and roses as Gaara managed to get a hold of his ankle as he tried to get closer to the red haired boy. He was flung as hard into the ground and quickly had to get up on his feet as there was large amounts of sand that were coming after him.

Naruto did a back flip and got out of the trajectory of the incoming sand before he had a slight second to catch his breath. When those five seconds were up though, he was back at it going at 110%. After all, with there being so many lives on the line there was no way he could fail. He didn't want anyone to hurt the people he cared about.

In a surprising move to Gaara, Naruto used the shunshin to move faster. It was enough to catch his opponent off guard and Naruto used that to his full advantage as he launched a powerful kick right into the midsection of Gaara. The red haired boy blocked the incoming kick with ease. This was not something that Naruto was concerned with though as he planned for this to happen. If it didn't then that was a bonus.

What he did do though was that Naruto got himself in a close position and aimed his right hand and fired. "Tenshi Sendan (Drilling Finger Bullets!" Naruto shouted out as he fired off the rounds from a point blank position right into the chest of Gaara.

Well he tried to as there was the sand that came up to protect its jinchuuriki as best as it could. Two of the bullets were stopped at the first form of defence in the wall. The next two made their way past the wall of sand and hit the sand armour the Gaara was wearing. The final bullet though was slightly different. It managed to make its way past both of Gaara's defences and the bullet pierced the skin right below the boy's left clavicle bone.

"Ahh!" Gaara screamed. It was right now that a foreign feeling encapsulated the boy. He had no idea what it was but he didn't like it at all, It was like when Yashamaru betrayed him but much, much worse. he didn't even notice that the sand came up much quicker and protected him inside a cocoon.

Naruto definitely did as he almost got his hand stuck in the sand but luckily, through a bit of fire manipulation, he managed to get it out. His train of thought was momentarily interrupted as there was some loud screaming that took place so everyone in the stadium could hear. "It's blood! MY BLOOD!" Gaara screamed in terror as he had never experienced this before. He finally knew the feeling of pain and he didn't like it. He didn't like it at all. It was time for mother to come out and destroy his enemy so that he could prove his existence.

Naruto wasn't aware of what was going on but he didn't like the looks of it at all. The sphere of sand that surrounded Gaara was just like the sand when there was no sphere in the sense that it was sentient and blocking Naruto's attempts to get in close and stab one of his bones into where Gaara was. With Gaara's sand acting as such a good defence and their being no way around, Naruto knew that he would have to go through Gaara. Luckily he had created a jutsu over the period of time training that he thought would do just that.

**x-X-x**

As the fight was going on, Temari couldn't help but watch on in fear. She had no idea that Gaara would be getting pushed this far in his fight. Never did she expect anyone to be able to hurt Gaara let alone for it to be a genin. Just what was Konoha feeding these kids what with that green spandex wearing kid as well.

What this meant for the invasion Temari did not know. They hadn't been given the order yet to unleash the beast and with the financial state that Sunagakure was in at the moment, anything less than a successful invasion was tantamount to failure. They had to get this right!

Whilst he was not thinking about the invasion, Might Gai was thinking about something else entirely. He was thinking about just how talented of a fighter Naruto was. Never in a million years did he expect for someone with the dead bone pulse bloodline to live in konoha. There was a reason why the specific bloodline was so feared and renowned around the world which led to its demise. To think that Naruto had it was mind boggling.

He hoped that in the future, with Asuma's approval of course that he could introduce himself to the boy and work with Naruto in refining his taijutsu to the point of excellence. The amount of potential that he could see in the boy was outstanding. Konoha definitely needed more skilled taijutsu fighters and as Konoha's taijutsu master, Gai took it upon himself to give back to the village that had given him so much.

Kakashi was thinking about Naruto but not in the same way that Gai was. Sure, he could see the buckets of potential just oozing out of Naruto but that was only a given considering the fact that his father was none other than Minato Namikaze. It was clear to anyone who actually knew Minato that Naruto looked like a carbon copy of his father. The good thing was for Kakashi was that from the looks of things, Naruto wasn't just the clone of his father. He seemed to have inherited a great deal of confidence, exuberance and extroverted nature from his mother.

When he looked at Naruto, Kakashi was conflicted with his emotions. He couldn't be prouder of the person that he was seeing right in front of his eyes. On the other hand, the silver haired Jonin would have loved to be a part of the development process of Naruto. There was fear that when he prevented Naruto from joining a team, he was killing the boy's career right before it began but thankfully, under the guidance of Asuma, Naruto would become a fine shinobi.

It wasn't just Kakashi and Gai who were changing their opinions of Naruto whilst watching him fight in the grand final of the chunin exams. The other person was none other than his godfather. Much like Gai, Jiraiya could see the potential hidden inside of Naruto and couldn't wait to start teaching him. The Toad Sannin already had a few ideas in mind of what he could do in terms of refining the boy and combing his bloodline and fire element into one well oiled machine.

He only wished that Naruto would forgive him for being a lousy godfather. Sure, he knew that objectively, it wasn't his own entire fault in that the needs of the many outweigh those of the few or the one and all as a spymaster but that didn't make things any easier. Jiraiya knew that most of the blame rested squarely on his shoulders as if he wanted to, he could have made the effort to visit Naruto and interact with the boy but he didn't.

Looking at Naruto now though made Jiraiya chuckle. He couldn't help but think that Naruto was destined for great things and then there was also the fact that the boy was a natural born leader.

**x-X-x**

"I can't hear you guys! Let me hear some fucking noise!" Naruto shouted as he stood up on a wall of the colosseum the second that he finished saying this, raucous noise came from the crowd and a massive grin spread on the face of Naruto. The blonde haired boy ripped his shirt off which was much to the delight of the female presence of the stadium. Whilst he somewhat did it because he was pumped up, Naruto also did it because his next move wasn't yet fully completed.

Naruto used his left hand to hold onto his right bicep and started channelling chakra into the arm. Bone started coming out of the top layer of skin from both his elbow and fingers. It slowly started to spread across the arm before it connected in the middle. His entire arm was covered in bone armour and his hand was clenched in a ball with there being a sharp tip to complete the final process of the first stage.

Sweat dripped down the brow of Naruto as the hard part was done. He hadn't been practising this for all that long but it was now time for him to put it into use whether he liked it or not. If Gaara was preparing to unleash his Bijuu right in the stadium, then he had to act now.

A spark ignited and the forearm that was covered in thick, dense bone was lit on fire through the manipulation of chakra. A mixture of yellow and orange chakra appeared on the arm of Naruto and he smirked. This was by far the best he had created in the time that he had spent creating this jutsu.

The only problem though was that he hadn't yet given it a name.

That was food for thought on a later date if he survived as Naruto started sprinting down the wall as a way to build up momentum. Danzo had told him about the basic mechanics of the chidori in how the more speed you built up, the more damage the jutsu did. Naruto took the same principles and applied them to his own jutsu.

Naruto sprinted down the wall at a speed which was even faster than before as he knew what needed to be done. As he was getting closer to Gaara, the eye of sand spotted his intentions and did its best to use the sand to not only block Naruto but cripple the person trying to harm Gaara.

It didn't work. Naruto was simply too fast and managed to weave his way through the obstacles. Right when he got close, Naruto yanked back his arm and used the stretch reflex to get that little bit more speed and thrusted the weapon surrounding his hand right into the sand sphere.

There was some resistance in the reaction to Naruto's attack but it was nothing that the blonde haired boy couldn't push through. The spear coating his hand slammed right through the sand and felt the familiar feeling of squelching and cracking of bones and skin being taken out of position. Thankfully his hand was surrounded by bone as that meant that he didn't feel any of the mush that was Gaara's brain.

There was no scream, there was very little sound to begin with as all that was happening was blood was pouring out of the hole and coating Naruto's Katon covered arm. It was death on impact.

The sand that surrounded Gaara started to fall down to the ground as there was no chakra circulating through the sand. The sight was not one for the faint of heart. Some people in the stands even vomited as they watched in horror.

There there was, a piece of bone, still on fire which happened to be melting the skin of Gaara was slightly to the right of the middle of his forehead. It went through one end and you could see the tip poking out the back if you looked careful enough.

"Winner of this fight and the winner of the Konoha Chunin Exams is Naruto Uzumaki!" Gemna shouted out loud and the second that that was stated, raucous laughter erupted and filled the entire stadium. It didn't take long at all for his name to start getting chanted but that was stopped when bright gold light shot out of the body of Gaara. It hung in the air for a few moments with everyone dead silent. The Konoha populace was aware of what this was as they had felt something much worse on the day the Kyubi attacked.

Eventually, the chakra slowly vanished into thin air before it was replaced with a whole bunch of feathers. Naruto felt sleepy but quickly realised that it was a genjutsu. With a pulse of chakra, the genjutsu was gone and he was no longer affected by it.

Explosions rocked through the colosseum and a massive purple barrier came up and surrounded the side of the building the Hokage was sitting in. _Whelp, I'd like to say that that's that and I've done my fair share but I know I can do more. I wonder if there is any money involved in winning the chunin exams? _Naruto curiously thought to himself. A mere second later and he was crash tackled to the ground and turned around to find himself staring at the back of the exam proctor.

"Temari and Kankuro, I want you to gather the body of Gaara at all costs and take it back to Sunagakure. We can't let Konoha get their hands on it!" Baki said as he was running damage control as he tried to make the best out of a bad situation.

Hearing the orders from her sensei, Temari didn't even bother wiping the tears away from her eyes as anger fuelled her motive. "Futon: Kamaitachi no jutsu (Wind Release: Sickle Weasel Jutsu!) Temari shouted out as she unleashed her fan on Gemna and Naruto.

Naruto immediately went through some seals. "Katon Goukakyuu no jutsu (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Jutsu) Naruto called out as he too used his jutsu. The affinity mismatch was what allowed Naruto to get away with using less chakra to defend himself and return the favour to the proctor who was currently engaging in a fight with the sensei of his former opponent Gaara.

Unfortunately for Naruto, Kankuro used his puppet to safely capture the body of Gaara and make sure that no one could damage it. It was clear to see that the two had good teamwork after years of time spent on the battlefield together.

Once the body of Gaara was safely collected, the two looked at one another and nodded. They both headed to the exit of the stadium and planned on making sure that their brother got the proper burial he deserved.

Naruto was about to chase after them until Gemna called out. "Kid! This is war! The exams are now over. I need you to make your way over to your teammates in the stands and then find your jonin-sensei and follow his orders. Now!" The special jonin shouted out to which Naruto didn't need to be told twice. He nodded and thanked the man for before heading over towards Asuma. He was keen to see the man that he hadn't seen in a long time, even if it was under not the best of circumstances.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

I just want to say credit to LCF for thinking of the bone grenade bullet things which I still haven't thought of a name for yet.

I originally had an extra 1.5k words added onto this but I have decided that I would cut it off this chapter and ad it onto the next one as it will allow me to finish the chunin exams properly rather than a half assed ending halfway through a chapter.


	10. Wanted to belong here

**x-X-x**

Naruto made his way back up to the competitors' box where his teammates were and he didn't like what he saw. There in front of him was Ino in a battle with a chunin what it looked like from the sand village. Not wanting either of his best friends to get hurt let alone worse, Naruto went up to the freshly minted chunin from the side with great speed and slammed bone spike directly into the ribcage of his enemy. It was death on impact as the bone broke through the defences and tore both lungs in the process. The body fell off of his hand and slumped to the ground.

"Thanks Naruto. Also congratulations on winning the chunin exams and defeating Gaara." Ino called out with a relieved sigh. Whilst she was confident that she could have taken him, it was nice to have some help from her teammate. She went in for a hug despite knowing about the bony situation that Naruto was dealing with at the moment.

The Uzumaki stopped her right then and there though. "We don't have time that right now, we have orders to get to Asuma-sensei and report for duty! By the way, where is Choji?" Naruto questioned which put a bit of a frown on the face of the blonde haired girl before it got serious.

"Choji fell victim to the genjutsu and has been unconscious since then." Ino said as it was clear that the two were reverting back into their roles with Naruto being the leader.

"For fuck sake!" Naruto swore which startled Ino. "I thought that Choji was better than that. Guess we're just going to have to make it out of this and then get better as a team" Naruto said more so to himself than to Ino. "Alright Ino, I need you to go and wake up Choji. From there we will head over to Asuma-sensei who is protecting the nobles."

Ino got to work and right as Naruto finished saying this, he had to jump out of the way and dodge the incoming kunai. On instinct, Naruto turned around and fired off a round of finger bullets, one of which was luckily or unluckily able to hit the enemy sound ninja in the throat depending on which side you barracked for.

Choji, with the help of Ino was getting up despite the fact that he was still a little bit groggy for his unplanned nap time. The blonde haired girl sent a pulse of chakra through the boy's system which seemed to jolt him awake. "Oh, sorry guys, I can't believe that I fell for that genjutsu, I guess I wasn't paying attention."

Knowing that Naruto was annoyed, Ino took it upon herself to play the peacekeeper role. She could see that now was not the time to get into any fights. "It's okay; just make sure that it doesn't happen again." She replied to which Choji nodded in affirmation.

Naruto was not in the mood to mince words. He had a mission to complete and it was his self-appointed duty to make sure that the mission got completed without any casualties. He desperately wanted to keep his 100% mission success rate intact.

Choji and Ino fell in line and the trio formed the common triangle formation with Choji at the front.

Whilst the quickest way would to be to traverse across the field that the chunin exams were held on, that was no man's land at the moment and it was paramount to suicide as you could easily get attacked from any and all directions. That was why Naruto made the executive call that they would go the long way. Choji was even happy as they got to go through the outer arena of the colosseum and pass through the food stalls.

If it was anyone else other than Choji, Naruto would have had a go at them but he knew that his teammate fought better with food in his stomach of the high fat variety. It was something to do with his clan's special jutsus.

Two minutes later, the trio arrived at the top of the stairs to the noble box that housed the Daimyo. Luckily for Team Asuma, they managed to avoid any form of battle along the way. "Asuma-sensei!" Naruto called out loudly which got the attention of the bearded man. He grinned when he saw his three genin all there. "We were told by Genma to come and report for duty under your orders!"

"Right. Kurenai at the moment is creating a genjutsu to make it look as if there is no one here. What I need you three to do is to help me in waking up all the nobles. Make sure that you take your time and Naruto, I want you to retract your bloodline at the moment as I don't want you to give the nobles heart attacks upon waking up." Ino giggled but that was all that happened outside of taking their orders.

Turning around, Asuma bent down onto one knee gently proceeded to inject some chakra into the body of the Fire Daimyo. "W-what is going on? Asuma-kun, is that you?"

"Yes Daimyo-sama, it's me. I will be brief but at the moment, Konoha is under attack by a joint force from Sunagakure and Otogakure. Myself, another Jonin and my genin students are all here to protect you and transport you to the Sarutobi clan compound where you will be safe until all of this is over.

"Oh, okay then Asuma-kun, we will do as you ask as our life is in your hands. What do you need us to do?"

"At the moment, the other Jonin is creating a genjutsu to make everyone here invisible whilst my students are waking up the other people in your entourage. Now that you are conscious, can you please gather your belongings so that we can leave as soon as possible." The daimyo nodded. He had been around enough shinobi to know what a genjutsu was. Now that he was more alert, he was keen to see these students that Asuma was talking about.

Much to his surprise, he didn't expect to see the child who had just one the chunin exams. That was surprising and definitely something to think about in the future. He was very impressed with the performance that Naruto had displayed. The other two had also put on promising displays although not quite as good as Naruto.

"Alright, is everyone accounted for?" Asuma questioned although he also made his own check. "Right, I want Naruto and Choji at the front and Ino at the back with me. We will be using a square formation." Team Asuma all nodded. It played to each of their strengths. It allowed Naruto and Choji to use their ninjutsu without any chance of hitting the nobles and it also provided Ino with the cover she needed for her clan jutsus as well as genjutsus.

With the plan in motion, the group of shinobi and nobles set out on their A-ranked mission. Naruto and Choji led the group up the same way that Team Asuma came. They went up the stairs of the box that they were sitting in previously and then headed down the stairs to the emergency exit. Much like the last time, it seemed that all the fighting was happening in the stands or outside.

The hard part now was when they got to the big exit doors. They would now be walking open air where there could be a lot of crossfire. "Choji" Naruto whispered in an attempt to get his friend's attention. What he had to say next was not something that he wanted the nobles to hear as it would bring down their confidence and that was simply not an option. "I'm running out of chakra at the moment. Do you have any soldier pills?"

Choji merely grinned and handed over one of his home made ones. Since it came from the Akimichi clan, it didn't actually taste all that bad but the influx of energy was well worth the bad taste. Feeling refreshed, Naruto thanked his friend and opened the door slightly. As he looked out, it looked as if the coast was clear.

"Come on, it's safe to leave." Naruto said and started walking out of the building although he made sure to hug the walls as he walked. The nobles quickly followed as they made their way out of the stadium and headed towards the Sarutobi clan compound. The problem was that the compound was 4km away on the edge of town. With the stadium near the centre of town it meant that they were in for a long journey.

For the first 1 kilometre, everything was fine and dandy as no one suspected the genjutsu was even there. That was until things changed. "Asuma, I am have guided you out of the danger area at the moment. I will go and find a place where I can be more useful." Kurenai stated to which Asuma nodded and let the woman go but not before staring at her ass.

"Right, kids, this just got tougher although I know for certain that we are more than capable enough of successfully completing our mission." They didn't need to be told anymore and they just kept going on mission. Now with the added threat of being caught out and targeted, it only made their mission that much harder.

Five minutes later and a group of what looked like to be a group of Jonin and Chunin came near the nobles. Given the Sunagakure headbands, Asuma knew that this was not going to be a friendly visit. "Kids, you go on ahead, I will hold off these guys to give you some space to make it to the safe house." Asuma shouted out which left no room for argument. This was not the time to be playing games as there were innocent lives at stake.

"Right, with Asuma-sensei holding off the enemies, everything will still be fine." Naruto stated in an attempt to run damage control. The last thing that he needed right now was for there to be panic. What he didn't notice was that the Fire Daimyo narrowed his eyes with scrutiny as he waited to see what Naruto would do next. He knew that Asuma wouldn't have put his life in the hands of the boy if he didn't trust him completely. He wanted to see what Asuma saw in the boy.

"Dammit! Now the ninja is gone, we're getting protected by kids!"

A nerve was struck with Naruto. The blonde haired boy instantly turned around and faced whoever it was that had made that call. As it turned out, it was a girl about a year or two younger than himself. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with this. "Okay, I don't give a shit who you are or who your parents are but let me tell you this. Don't you ever question me when my whole job is to find the best way to ensure that you are safe! This is a war for crying out loud! Don't you think that it would be best not to bite the hand that is trying to protect you, you braindead little girl?

Good, silence, just what I like to hear and now that we have gotten that sorted out let's head out." Naruto said in a tone which he hoped that killed any comeback. It didn't.

"That was my granddaughter you know" was all what was said but Naruto instantly knew who had said it. With testosterone and adrenaline running through his system, Naruto answered back in a way that he probably shouldn't have.

"Yeah and I stand by what I said! At this present point in time, I am the most qualified to ensure that all of you survive. I don't care if you are the most powerful man in the world or not. That doesn't mean shit when there are people out there trying to kill you! I sure as hell don't need some civilian kid telling me, the person who just killed a jinchuuriki for crying out loud to tell me how to do my job! Now can we get back to doing what we are supposed to do which is ensuring that you get to safety so that you can ram a giant pole up the ass of the Suna Daimyo for sanctioning this fucking invasion!" Naruto said before turning around and getting focused for the mission.

He didn't say anything but he was mightily impressed with the demeanour and attitude shown to him by the boy in front of him. There were very few people at all who had the balls to say something like that. That, in conjunction with the amount of skill that he had shown during the chunin exams made the man certain that Naruto would make an exemplary guardian ninja.

Naruto was unaware of this as his mind started racing when Choji yelled out "Incoming!" before going through some hand signs and slamming his hands on the ground. A wall of mud and came up and protected everyone from the incoming kunai and shuriken.

Fear and panic was rife through the group. "Everybody stay calm. I have this under control." Naruto said in what was a commanding voice.

"Oh, look at this, a genin team are looking after these nobles. This is going to be easier than I thought." A man from Sunagakure stated who had on a flak jacket signifying that he was at least a chunin. He was beyond confident that he could kill the kids in front of him. That was until he saw a bunch of trees and some menacingly looking red eyes. He screamed.

Turning around in horror to see what it was that had caused their team leader to scream, they found themselves staring at a beautiful woman holding a kunai deep into the neck of their superior. Ino made the situation her own by being the quickest to react. She threw her mind into the body of one of the other enemies, grabbed a kunai and stabbed that into the neck of the final shinobi.

"Naruto!" Ino called out to which the boy nodded. He picked out one of the kunai from his pocket and threw it at the body Ino was in. Right at the last second, the platinum blonde haired girl released the jutsu and returned to her original body. "Hey Naruto, I know you like holding onto my body for dear life and all but can you let me go, now's not the time for that sort of thing. We can do it later if you're lucky." She said with an exaggerated wink on her face. Naruto for his part blushed badly. He was still coming to terms as seeing women as women and it was not helping at all with his teammate being such a tease. It didn't help that she was actually a cool person outside of that.

"Stop talking and do your damn job!" Naruto called out as he tried to divert the attention away from him. It didn't work as a few of the adult civilians chuckled at the expense that Naruto was put through.

Thankfully for Naruto and the rest of Team Asuma, there were no more hiccups along the way in making it to the Sarutobi clan compound. "Okay now all we have to do is wait until Asuma-sensei comes back because these gates are only opened by blood seals and no one else here is a member of the Sarutobi clan. We just have to be patient." Naruto said to which the group of nobles nodded. They were happy to be safe and away from the danger.

Now that he had had some time and the adrenaline was wearing off, Naruto thought back on his previous conversation and realised that he may have been a bit harsh earlier. The blonde made his way over to the girl who had had talked to before. "Hey, I just wanted to say that I am sorry for the way that I talked to you before. We were in a situation where negativity wouldn't have done anyone favours but I shouldn't have snapped at you. Can we be friends?" Naruto questioned whilst holding his hand out to shake?

The girl looked at Naruto and there was a slight tint of pink to her cheeks. "Yes we can. My name is Akira Tokugawa." She stated as she extended her hand and shook Naruto's. Ino who was briefly glancing at the two out of the corner of her eye scowled momentarily before her focus returned to the task at hand of protecting the nobles. Here she was, she a noble as the clan heir of the Yamanaka clan having to protect others. Oh well she sighed as it was part of the job.

After shaking the hand of his new friend (something which he has happy about) Naruto made his way over to the daimyo. "Excuse me daimyo-sama, I'm sorry for the way that I acted before. I shouldn't have shouted at you despite my anger. You didn't do anything to deserve that." Naruto said as he hoped to mend the bad impression he had given off before.

The impassive expression on the face of the daimyo made Naruto second guess himself as he was unsure if he had said something to piss off his big boss. "Do you stand by what you said to me before? If I asked you to say it now, would you still say the same thing?" The daimyo questioned whilst looking pointedly at Naruto.

Put on the spot, Naruto was not sure what to say. He was conflicted. There was the answer that he wanted to say but he wasn't sure if it was the right move to make politically. In the end he knew he was asked a question and Naruto gave the most honest answer he could. "Probably, yes. I would. I would try and change the way that I worded it but I was still the leader of the mission and having comments like that thrown my way would only decrease our effectiveness as a team. I am sorry if this offends you." Naruto stated as he made sure to word his sentences carefully. He didn't want to say the wrong thing.

"Good Naruto was it? I don't like people who are 'yes' men. In my position, I need people who are able to give me the solid advice required to run a country. I can't have people telling agreeing with me even if it is the wrong decision." As he spoke, he saw the smile on Naruto's face and knew that it would make what he had to say next that much easier.

"Naruto, I would like for you to join me as one of my 10 guardian shinobi. You will essentially be a shinobi directly under my command and you will live in my palace with me, my other family members and the other Guardians. You don't have to make the decision now and I will wait until all of this is over to officially offer you the position and have you sign the contract. All I will say is that" The daimyo offered which stunned Naruto.

He had no idea what to say or do right now as he wasn't sure if he should take the offer. He needed to think it through and consult Asuma-sensei and Danzo-sensei. Turning around, Naruto looked at his teammates and he was fairly confident he already knew the answer.

It was then that Asuma arrived. "So what'd I miss?" He questioned with a smirk on his face.

"Nothing really a part from Kurenai-taichou helping us for a bit although I don't think that we really needed her help." Naruto confidently stated which got the nod of approval from Asuma.

"Good. Now how about we go inside the compound?" Asuma questioned although it was more of a rhetorical question. The Jonin quickly placed his hand over the seal and channelled some chakra into it. It took a few seconds but the gears started grinding and the doors started opening. Feet started moving and the civilians made their way inside as Asuma guided them towards the largest house which would be where they housed.

**x-X-x**

When you considered the fact that Naruto had three fights with one of them being a jinchuuriki and then having to lead a group of very important diplomats safely whilst there was an invasion going on, it was no surprise at all that Naruto passed out fairly quickly after everything settled down and the adrenaline wore off. Upon waking up the next morning feeling both refreshed and hungry, Naruto decided to head down the stairs of his apartment and get some breakfast. Once he was done eating, the blonde haired boy had a shower and got dressed.

He wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to be doing today but he assumed with whatever went down the previous day would dictate his day. That was, until there was a knocking sound on the door. Curious as to whom it was, Naruto opened the door.

"Hi there, my name is Satoshi Hasegawa. I am a representative of the Konoha Dairy Company and I would like to talk to you about an offer that we have for you to be our ambassador. We watched your performance during the exams and we think that with bones needing calcium, something that dairy is high in; we can strike a deal that can benefit both of our parties. Am I allowed to come into your apartment sir?" The man questioned to which Naruto was confused for a second before realising what the man was asking.

Now Naruto wasn't sure what was happening with the chunin exams and if he was going to win any money but if he wasn't then at least, in his mind, he could use the fame that came with winning the exams and profit from it. The idea of a sponsorship was something that Naruto was not really familiar with but he definitely liked the sounds of it in theory.

What Naruto didn't notice was the look in the eyes of the man who he was letting into his house. Just from looking at the place, the man could tell that Naruto wasn't in a very good state financially and that made him realise that he had a fair bit of power in the negotiations.

The blonde felt slightly embarrassed with the way his apartment looked. He had the cheapest of chairs and he didn't even have a table. His reasoning and justification was that he never really had anyone over, that he was always out on missions and frankly had better things to do than furnish his crappy apartment. There were much more important things that he wanted to save for like a deposit on his very own house.

Now that he had something important like this happening in his house, Naruto felt very poor. If the civilian thought something of it, he didn't make a mention but Naruto felt as if the person was silently judging him.

"Okay, so what would you want me to do for this sponsorship, what would you expect of me?" Naruto questioned as he wanted to get straight to the bottom of this. Today was a busy day after all.

"We would expect for you to have a photoshoot session with our photographer which we will then use to display over our products. You will also have to endorse our products by saying a few quotes in how this particular product has made you become a better shinobi, and finally, you will not be allowed to have or even be seen near products of our competitors. That will result in immediate termination of the sponsorship." The man stated as he pointed it out to Naruto on a piece of paper holding the contract.

Nodding as he understood all of this, the blonde haired boy followed it up with another question. "Now what sort of compensation would I be getting from this sponsorship?" Naruto questioned as he knew that whilst he was unfamiliar with situations like this, there were tricks to the trade with being a ninja.

"Well my company would like to offer you a deal of $50,000 per year for two years." Despite the fact that he was a trained ninja and knew not to give away information, Naruto couldn't help the fact that his eyes bulged when he heard the number. That was more than what he was making now as a genin!

Luckily Naruto had the sense of mind to negotiate a bit. "Well I you are the first people who have contacted me so I am not sure…" Naruto said although he purposefully left it open so that he could let the man offer him some more money.

"What about an additional signing on bonus?" he asked in a desperate attempt to save the deal. If he could sign Naruto today before he had the chance to find out what other people might be willing to offer, it could save his company a lot of money. That could net him the raise that he had been hoping for.

"How much?"

"The highest I would be able to offer you is $15,000 if you sign right here and now. If you refuse this then we won't be able to offer you the same amount." Naruto wasn;t sure what to do with now that the pressure was on him for a decision.

"I'll sign the deal." Naruto stated to which he was happy as his finances significantly grew and the signing bonus would mean that Naruto was well off now. He didn't have to worry about taking missions daily to make sure that his account stayed positive. It also meant that if he saved up a bit more, he would be able to get a deposit for his own place and not have to pay off someone else's mortgage.

That definitely sounded like a good idea as far as he was concerned.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

I know that this is a short chapter but I hope the fact that it is quick will make up for it. Most of this chapter was originally a part of the previous chapter but I decided to chop it up into two chapters instead. This marks the end of the invasion and the beginning of a new ark which will be completely divergent from canon. As many of you were surprised by me killing off Gaara, his death will be the main catalyst for the rather significant changes that are about to happen in the story.

On another note, I don't particularly like the title of this story so if you have a suggestion of what it could be called, please let me know as for now, this name will be a placeholder until I can settle on one that I really like.


	11. But something felt so wrong here

"Naruto Uzumaki, you are hereby summoned to the Hokage's office." The ANBU member stated as Naruto opened the door. This was something that Naruto pretty much expected since he won the chunin exams the day before and this probably meant that he was going to be get a promotion to the rank of chunin and then get sent out on a whole bunch of missions.

Dressed in a pair of blank ninja sandals, blank pants and a cheap, dark green t-shirt, Naruto headed to the centre of town. Now that the fact that he had the Kaguya bloodline limit, the blonde haired boy didn't see any point in wearing high quality clothes as he was no doubt going to put holes in them when using his kekkai genkai. Now that he also had full access to his bloodline, Naruto didn't need to use kunai and shuriken as he could make his own. It was not as if he had ever been tasked with going on a political mission although that might now change with the offer of the Daimyo on the table.

He still hadn't thought that through. On one hand he could definitely see the benefits in going there. He would no doubt get real strong as that was what Asuma-sensei did when he was younger. If he ever wanted to make a run at becoming the Hokage then he knew that if he made a good impression on the daimyo, then he would have a much better shot at the title and then there was the financial aspect of becoming a guardian ninja. The job definitely paid well as you had a constant duty to protect very important people.

Sure, there were a lot of positives to becoming one of the guardian ninjas but there were a lot of things that he was going to have to give up if he wanted the job. The most important thing that he would have to give up were the friendships and bonds that he had created. In the short space of time, For Naruto who was an orphan, making friends in Ino and Choji along with having Asuma-sensei and Danzo-sensei were pipe dreams mere months ago. Did he really want to give up the happiness that having friends gave? Sure they might be friends when he got back to the village but he knew that it would never really be the same.

Before the Uzumaki genin could ponder more on his future, Naruto realised that he had arrived at the Hokage's office. "Hi there, I got summoned by the ANBU." Naruto stated to the receptionist who nodded and allowed Naruto to walk into the room.

Naruto was surprised with who he saw in the room. There was someone that he wasn't surprised to see and that was Danzo-sensei but the other person was someone that he didn't expect to see and if he was honest, it was someone that he didn't particularly want to see. Despite the fact that he had matured a lot since joining Team Asuma, there were still a few things that Naruto didn't like and he was very good at holding grudges.

"Good, you're here. Kakashi, I am giving you the chance to tell Naruto everything we previously discussed. It is up to you if you want to tell him it but if you don't, I will get Asuma to do it when he gets back from his mission." Danzo stated in the low, monotone voice that oozed authority.

This definitely confused Naruto when he heard this as he wondered what it was that was so important that Kakashi had to tell him something. As far as he knew, the only connection that Kakashi and himself had with one another was the fact that he got failed by the man in the genin exam.

"Naruto, I want you to meet me behind the Hokage monument as there are a few things that we will be talking about today." Since it was coming from an elite jonin and got endorsed by one of his sensei, Naruto had no problem in following the orders. With a nod of the head, Kakashi used a shunshin and Naruto quickly followed. He would have liked to get a form of acknowledgement from Danzo about his performance at the chunin exams but given what he knew about the man, he shouldn't have been surprised at all really.

**x-X-x**

Once the two ninjas made their way to the secluded location, Kakashi used a jutsu taught to him by his sensei and set up a barrier. "Naruto, I would just like to say that I am very impressed with the performance you gave at the finals. You should be very proud of yourself." Kakashi said with an eye smile.

"No thanks to you." Naruto muttered loud enough that the jonin heard the comment. The eye smile faded as there were many things that Kakashi regretted in his life and the most recent one was the fact that he passed up on the opportunity to train Naruto.

"Okay, fair enough, I deserved that one. Now before this turns into rag on Kakashi day, there are more important matters that we need to discuss." The silver haired man said as he used his 'serious' tone of voice. This was something that Naruto noticed and got ready. He could potentially be going on a mission with the man in front of him and he wanted all the details to prepare himself.

"The first thing that I am happy to announce Naruto is that you have officially been promoted to the rank of chunin hereby immediately. Here is your well-deserved flak Jacket." Kakashi as he handed Naruto the vest. Kakashi couldn't help but unleash a full blown smile on his face when he saw the expression on the face of his sensei's son. It was the moments like this that made Kakashi deeply regret not taking Naruto on as a student.

"Thank you, I don't know what to say." Naruto replied as he tried on the jacket. It felt a bit loose but Naruto knew that he could grow into it by gaining muscle / hitting a growth spurt. As he looked down at himself, Naruto couldn't help but think that the short t-shirt underneath looked a bit dorky so he would need to go to Ino for some fashion advice as much as he hated to admit it. He hoped that the positives outweighed the negatives.

Admittedly he wished it was either Asuma or Danzo who gave it to him as they had had more involvement in his development as a shinobi

"Good, now that is out of the way, we can talk about the real reason why this was setup Naruto-kun." Naruto was a bit put off by the fact that Kakashi was using the –kun suffix on his name but he didn't mention it. Kakashi was a lot stronger than him. Naruto only wanted people that he had established a relationship with to call him that and Kakashi wasn't one of those people.

Despite all of that, Naruto there was a sinking feeling in the stomach of Naruto that told him that what he was going to hear was something that was going to have a large impact on his life. He wasn't sure if he really wanted to hear it.

"What I am about to tell you is related to the main reason as to why I didn't become your sensei Naruto." Now that Kakashi had said this, Naruto's attention was solely on the man in front of him. This was one of the questions that he had been waiting to find out the answer to for a long time.

"How do I word this…?" Kakashi said more to himself rather than Naruto. The blonde picked up that this is a sensitive topic. "Naruto, I assume you don't know who your parents are do you?"

The eyes of Naruto immediately widened. This was not the alleyway that he expected this conversation to go down. It was a question that Naruto had long given up hope in trying to find answers to as every time he tried to find out more information, he would just get depressed with the lack of answers. The last time he tried to find out more, Naruto discovered the fact that his family was a clan in a completely different country. That would have been okay had it not been for the fact that it had all been massacred during the second great shinobi war.

Now that Kakashi was bringing up topics that he had tried to keep buried for such a long time, there was a little spark of hope inside the mind of the blonde haired boy. "No…"

"Okay, that makes things a little bit easier. When you were born, there was a decree made by the Sandaime Hokage to prevent anyone from finding out who your parents were. If word got out that your parents had a child, you would have assassins after your head for the rest of your life. With there being people out there who would be willing to kill you just to spite your parents, then there was a severe possibility that the world would be thrown into another great shinobi war."

As Kakashi said this, Naruto couldn't help but gape. Just who were his parents that the world finding out about his birth could potentially send the world into a fourth great shinobi war? He didn't know of any famous Uzumaki from the bingo books or even history books outside of the Shodaime Hokage's wife.

There was the fact that he felt better about his information gathering skills due to the fact that there was a law stating he couldn't find anything about his family and it wasn't just him being shit.

"Naruto, I grew up and had the pleasure of knowing your parents. Your mother was a beautiful and not to mention strong woman called Kushina Uzumaki. She was the type of person who would punch first, ask questions later but if you were on her good side, she was the kindest person you could ever ask to have as a friend. Here is a photo of her." Kakashi sated to which Naruto took in absolutely every word the man in front of him said with open ears.

When he got the photo in his hand Naruto couldn't help but stare at the woman in the photo. Just like Kakashi had said before, she was beautiful. He had to admit he liked her eyes the most. "Your father on the other hand was the better shinobi of the two despite Kushina still being a Jonin." That left a significantly smaller pool of people that could be his father.

"Naruto, there is no easy way for me to say this so I will just come out and say it. Naruto, your father is none other than Minato Namikaze." When Naruto heard this, his head shot up and stared at Kakashi. That wasn't what he was expecting to hear at all. He didn't know how to feel although he was saddened by the fact that his father was dead.

"What about my mother in all of this, is she still alive?" Naruto looked up at Kakashi with hope in his eyes, searching for any sign that his mother was still alive. He wanted to talk to her and ask her why she was not with him.

"Unfortunately not Naruto. Your mother and father both died on the night that you were born because as you know, you were born on the night of the Kyubi attack. It was not your fault though if that went through your mind Naruto-kun. There was something that happened that night that I cannot figure out and the only people who do know are your parents.

Curiosity filled the boy. "What do you mean, what happened, I thought that the Kyubi happened and that was it?" A frown marred the face of Naruto as it seemed as if there was some foul play at hand.

There was. "Your mother was the jinchuuriki of the Kyubi Naruto." Yet another bombshell was dropped on the boy. A wave of guilt passed through him as Naruto was instantly reminded of how he killed Gaara during the exams for the sole reason that he was a jinchuuriki. It made him feel like shit. The fact that Gaara was an unstable jinchuuriki who was hell bent on levelling the village by unleashing the demon inside of him was missed by Naruto.

"The seal on the stomach of your mother became weak when she got pregnant with you but with your father also being a seal master, there was no real issue with the seal. Someone must of come into the private room that was guarded by ANBU and did something to take your father's attention away from your mother. During that time, the person managed to break the seal and release the demon."

"Who was it!?" Naruto questioned with anger in his voice. He didn't like the idea of anyone killing his parents despite the fact that he had never met them before.

"That is the million dollar question that we have been trying to find an answer to for the past fourteen years." Kakashi stated out loud although this was more to himself.

Naruto was curious as to the wording of the statement. "We?"

There was a nod from the Jonin. "Yes, we. The other people who knew of your lineage all knew your parents and want to know how what happened that night happened so that we can prevent it from happening again."

"Who else knew who were my parents were?"

Kakashi paused for a moment. "When you look at a picture of your father, you will notice that there is a lot of similarities between you in terms of appearance. A lot of people who were around when your parents were alive can tell whose child you are now that you have displayed how skilled you are. Jiraiya as he was your father's sensei, Sandaime, Danzo, the other two councillors most of the clan heads, Asuma and Gai. They are the people that I can list off the top of my head at the moment but there are probably more that have figured it out."

Naruto nodded when he heard this but then a stray though entered his mind. "Hey, if you knew my father and you were his student, then why did you refuse to be my sensei? Is it because I remind you of him?" Naruto questioned with a frown on his face. From the impression he got previously in this conversation, Kakashi wasn't actually that bad of a person. Maybe he was wrong?

"No!" Kakashi emphasized in a rare display of emotion. "That is far from the truth. The actual reason is because every single person that I ever became close to has died. I didn't want you to become yet another person on that long list."

Immediately, Naruto's opinion of the man dramatically changed. Gone was the anger and hatred for preventing him from graduating to that of understanding and if he was honest with himself, a little bit of pity. Admittedly, He didn't have much experience with losing people that you cared about since he never had any to begin with but he wished he wouldn't act like what Kakashi was doing in this situation.

"Judging from the person you have become under Asuma's tutelage, I'd like to think that the decision had some positives as I don't think that I could have trained you into becoming a better shinobi. I'm not much of a sensei if you haven't been able to tell." He didn't know what kind of shape his students were in before but they didn't seem as if they had improved that much.

"Not a day goes by that I don't regret the decision for you to be on my team but I hope we can put this behind us and become friends?" Kakashi asked which it didn't take Naruto all that long to make his decision.

**x-X-x**

As this was going on with Naruto, there was a meeting going on. This wasn't just any meeting though, this was one of the most important in the history of konoha. The room was full with very important people on the shinobi side and the daimyo along with his advisors. At the current point in time, they were busy in the process of discussing who it was that was going to become the next Hokage.

"So, Jiraiya, will you be willing to take the position of Hokage?" The daimyo questioned as he looked at one of the men he respected the most. The stories that he had heard pained the man as a very skilled shinobi.

He merely shook his head. "I can't. Despite the fact that I don't even want to do this, I have a spy network that I must maintain and I won't be able to do that effectively if I am located in one position. I would suggest Tsunade however as I think that if I am given time to go and locate her, I will be able to convince her to come back and become the Hokage that Konoha needs in this time of struggle."

The daimyo seemed to ponder this for a moment and it was at this point in time that Danzo knew that he had to act quickly and smartly. He couldn't let Konoha be led by Tsunade. She was not the type of person that was capable of leading any village let alone the strongest of all on the entire continent to prosperity.

"No! Tsunade is not capable of leading a village. She is very much a gambler who has the poorest history when it comes to financial management. She has lost over 10 million dollars in the past 5 years. That is not a quality that we should look for in our village leader. This is not even including the fact that the woman is essentially a missing ninja as she deserted the village in its greatest time of need." Danzo stated which drew the ire of Jiraiya. Sure, he knew that his team mate was not perfect and neither was he but he knew that letting the village fall in the hands of Danzo was not good for the future.

This wasn't just a sentiment that Jiraiya had. It was something that the clan heads in attendance with those being Shikaku and Hiashi agreeing with. The man was very proactive and that lead to situations where he created enemies from nothing.

"Tsunade was taught the same values and morals that have been passed down from generation to generation starting from her grandfather the Shodaime Hokage." Jiraiya rebutted which received a nod from the daimyo.

The two looked at each other and it was clear as day that they knew what was going on. Whoever won the argument here to decide who the Hokage was going to be, would get the final say so.

"But those same morals taught by your sensei have lead konoha to lose its title as the strongest ninja village to both Kumo and Iwa at the moment. If Hiruzen had killed Orochimaru 10 years ago when he had the chance, then there never would have been an invasion. A more proactive approach would have saved the lives of many people here yesterday."

An eye of Jiraiya twitched. "And you think that your 'proactive approach' as you call it will be so much better? I sure as hell don't remember sensei creating anywhere near as many enemies in the world who want our blood as what you have done over the years. You might be an okay leader for the short term but for the long term you will create too many enemies that will form an alliance and start another war against us, one which we will lose. Plus, I don't exactly remember seeing any of your ROOT shinobi out there on the battlefield protecting the people."

It was this that caused for everyone to stare at Danzo. Danzo gritted his teeth and paused for a moment and it was this that gave Jiraiya the belief that he was winning the argument. He knew of the opinion that many held of him and he knew that that it wasn't positive. The Jonin council would never approve him either so the veteran ninja decided to change his tune.

"I never said that I was running for the position of Hokage now did I?" The second that Danzo said this, it threw everyone in the room for a loop. This was news to everyone as it was known that Danzo was someone who once vied for the position of Hokage back when the Sandaime was being selected. To hear him state that he was not going for the position now that Hiruzen was dead was definitely surprising.

"The position of Hokage is the most crucial appointment for the village. It is a position that needs stability and one of the major reasons why konoha has stayed at the top for a long period of time is the fact that we have not changed Kage's anywhere near as frequently as other hidden villages. Tsunade is too old to be a serious long term candidate. We need someone younger than her to lead the village into prosperity." Danzo stated to which Hiashi nodded as he agreed that someone younger would be better long term as the constant change in leadership would do no good.

"Then who would you suggest becomes the Hokage? Kakashi, he is the student of the late Minato Namikaze.?" The daimyo suggested as he thought that Kakashi was a reputable man.

This time it wasn't Danzo or Jiraiya who spoke up, it was Hiashi. "No, Whilst Kakashi is a very good shinobi, there is a lot to question his mentality. He wouldn't actively try and destroy konoha but is showing signs that he has lost a lot of determination and focus. If Inoichi was to run a psyche evaluation on him, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he is suffering from depression. They are not the qualities a leader should have." As much has they didn't want to admit it, Jiraiya and Shikaku both agreed on the opinion voiced by the Hyuga clan leader.

"It is unfortunate that Minato is not with us anymore. He would be the perfect candidate as he is the highly skilled shinobi for the job who has the mindset required and age isn't an issue. Whilst there are people from his generation who could lead the village if absolutely necessary, there is no one who stands out as a clear Hokage. Shikaku and Hiashi are the best candidates for that generation but both have other duties to the village."

The daimyo took this to heart. "So are you suggesting that we go for someone in the same generation as Kakashi like Asuma-kun or that green guy..?"

This time it was Shikaku who had previously been quiet spoke up. "No. Whilst Gai definitely has the skills to be the Hokage, he is… not entirely there mentally, yeah that's probably the best way to put it. As for Asuma, he has the mentality to become the Hokage that Konoha needs but he is simply not strong enough to strike fear into enemies and prevent wars with just his name. I wouldn't feel comfortable having either one of them as the Hokage although if I had to choose one, I would go with Asuma."

"None of the people that re being mentioned are striking you with confidence, is there someone else that has not been mentioned yet?" The daimyo questioned as he was getting a little bit annoyed at the fact that they were not coming to any conclusions.

_Now_ Danzo thought to himself as he knew that there was never going to be a better time to ensure the safety of the village that he loved. "This might be a controversial choice but what about doing something completely left field? The newest generation has three ninjas in it that are each capable of reaching the same skill level as Sarutobi in his prime if given the right environment to learn. We as the elder ninjas would be able to guide them into becoming a kage with the proper training and handling the political side of things until the person is capable of making decisions."

"Whilst this would leave us weaker in the short term, I can see this working in the long term if everything goes to plan and the ninja fills out every bit of potential he has, that is an awful lot of pressure to put on someone. What happens if the person in question doesn't ever eventuate into the Kage that konoha needs, will we not just be in an even worse position?" Shikaku stated which garnered many nods of agreement.

"Then we could have more than one candidate from the young generation, Sasuke Uchiha, Konohamaru Sarutobi and Naruto Uzumaki all show signs of having the potential to be what konoha needs for a kage. There would be an official group of adjudicators who would judge the performances of the shinobi in question and whoever out performs his peers will be the person who gets the title." As he was saying this, Danzo was confident that he already new the winner of this outcome.

"Ooh, I did like Naruto when I met him, he looks like his father but certainly doesn't act like him. Yes, I like this idea as none of the other candidates are capable or willing to take on the role, there will be a form of selection criteria to decide who the best candidate is for the position. This won't just be a combat situation between all three of them as there will be a multitude of aspects that go into this report such as mission reports, statements from superiors and subordinates on missions, academic testing and more. I believe that a six month time frame is an adequate period of time to decide. I will be back in konoha then to see the results myself and crown a new kage. Send my wishes onto each of the candidates."

Jiraiya didn't know what to think of this new development but he was saddened by the fact that he had no excuse to go and visit his hime.

What none of the people in the room realised was that underneath all of those bandages, there was a red eye spinning like crazy.

**x-X-x**

Unaware of what was going on in the upper echelons of konoha's hierarchy, Naruto found himself in a familiar place with familiar faces. It was the Team Seven training grounds and he was there with Ino and Choji. "Hey guys, how's it going, I hope everything went alright with the invasion and none of you guys got hurt? I mean I passed out pretty early haha." Naruto couldn't help but blush as he rubbed the back of his head.

Ino merely brushed it off to the side. "Ahh don't worry Naruto, I mean it is pretty hard to match the awesomeness of Choji and myself!" There was a smirk on her face but she didn't mean anything harmful by the comment.

"You wish jellyfish."

"Who even says that?"

"Yeah well… shut up."

The grin that framed the face of Ino was one that Naruto couldn't help but stare at for a bit. He didn't want to sound like a bitch or anything but he thought that the most attractive thing about her was her eyes. He quickly turned to Choji as he noticed that there was a bit of heat going to his cheeks.

Thankfully for Naruto, Ino didn't notice this.

"Oh, congrats on the promotion to chunin Naruto!" Choji said as he realised what it was that Naruto was wearing. When Choji said this, Ino also took note of Naruto's appearance and saw the eyesore that was Naruto.

"Ewww yuck what are you wearing? I thought that had some sort of fashion sense but I guess that I was wrong!"

Sure, even he knew that what he was wearing now wasn't the best looking but honestly, but was the reaction from Ino really all that necessary, he didn't think so. "Take off that T-shirt and just where the flak jacket for now. You can at least look half way decent until you get home and change into some proper clothes."

Ignoring the bitchy tone that it came along with, Naruto did just that. He unzipped the chunin vest that he was wearing and then took it off. This was fine for Ino as it was what she expected. What she didn't expect was for Naruto to take off his shirt as well. It gave the blonde haired girl the chance to have an elongated look at a boy in her age range that was fairly attractive.

He was different from Sasuke who had very little muscle on his body and used his chakra to great effect. Naruto instead had a large amount of muscle for someone his age and the only person who had more than him in his age range was Choji. What was even more impressive was that because of the bloodline that Naruto had, it made his bones larger and thus he required more muscle to stand out. Gone was the anorexic looking boy as Naruto now had developed enough muscle and a little bit more fat so that he was 3 clothing sizes bigger in the space of six months when you included his growth spurt.

Ino couldn't help it as her pupils dilated as she definitely liked what she saw. Her focus on her teammate was broken when Naruto zipped up the jacket and it prevented Ino from staring at his abs. _Yeah suck shit Ino! You tease me all the time so it's finally good to get back at you. I'll have to do this more often. _Naruto thought as he was not as oblivious as he once was.

"So what did you guys call me out here for anyway?" Naruto questioned as he decided to get down to the bottom of what they wanted to speak with him about. Sure, he didn't mind spending time with his teammates but there were a lot of things on his mind at the moment. He still had to come to terms with the fact that he was the son of the late Yondaime Hokage.

"Well we just wanted to talk to you about the offer you got to go and join the guardian ninja from the fire daimyo!" Ino said with a cheerful grin on her face.

_Oh, they want to know if I have made a decision. _The smile that was on his face, it dimmed slightly, not that Choji or Ino noticed it. It was a tough decision that would change his life forever. He had thought about it a between the time from signing the sponsorship to meeting Kakashi and both sides had heavy pros and cons but he come to a decision. He had declined the offer.

"Yeah, I decided to turn it down because I want to be with my friends. Sure moving to Tokyo and being the Daimyo's guardian would be very beneficial for me and it would pay extremely well but I realised that I don't want to lose what I have spent so much time building these past six months. I didn't really have any friends since my graduation and spending time on Team Asuma with you guys has been the happiest times of my life." Naruto said with an awkward chuckle at the end as he didn't like admitting his feelings because he thought it wasn't manly.

The cheerful smile on the face of Ino and Choji immediately dropped when they heard this and it was something that Naruto noticed. The eyes of the Yamanaka girl even started watering when she heard how Naruto felt about the team. She truly saw Naruto as a member of Team 10 and not just Shikamaru's replacement. "What we thought you were going to take the offer!" Ino shouted as she let her emotions get the best of her when she replied in a slightly hostile tone of voice.

Naruto heard this. "Well what should I have done huh? Did you want me to take the position so you guys could get rid of me because I'm the replacement for Shikamaru and not actually your friend?" When he said this, tears started falling down the face of Ino and despite how angry he was, Naruto felt like the biggest piece of shit when he saw that he made Ino cry. Unfortunately at this point in time, he had too much pride to be able to say he was sorry.

"No! You were never that! Don't you dare ever think of yourself as that! I won't allow it! Sure, Choji and I were dealing with his death at the beginning but after we got to know you, we never saw you as that." To see the proud and strong girl that was Ino sniffling and wiping tears onto the sleave of her shirt was something that would forever be etched into the memory of Naruto and he vowed internally to never allow it to happen again.

Choji was angry at the response that Naruto gave for a multitude of reasons. "No! I don't see you as my team mate Naruto! I see you as my friend. No one, not even Shikamaru was able to make me as confident as what you have in my fighting abilities. Plus, you don't have to be a jerk about it." Choji replied as he saw what was happening to Ino.

"Well I thought that you guys would like the fact that I chose to stay here with you guys. Fuck me for thinking that! Why aren't you two happy then that I am staying here!?" Naruto responded although this time there was a little bit less heat to his words.

Ino had to clear the lump in her throat before she spoke up. "Because we got the same offer from the daimyo after you were passed out!" Ino shouted out as she went back to crying when she finished saying this.

There was a sense of foreboding in Naruto as he had a feeling as to where this was going and he didn't like the sounds of it. "No, no! please tell me that you said no!" Naruto desperately questioned and he stared into the eyes of his two teammates. None of them could look him in the eyes and settled for staring at the ground.

It was Choji who had the courage to reply. "When you were asleep, The Daimyo was impressed with us and offered each of us individually the opportunity to join the guardian ninjas. We spoke it over with our parents and they agreed that taking this would be the best thing for our careers as shinobi."

The moment that Naruto heard this, there was a stabbing pain in his chest. The news almost made him fall down onto the ground. "How could you! Obviously it seems we know who value friendships more. The reason why you got so angry at me is because you want to ease the guilt on your respective consciousness'."

"How could you say those things!? We honestly thought that you would be taking the position so we wanted to join you. We know how much you love money as you never stop talking about it. We were willing to leave our families to join you in the capital, don't you know how that feels?" Ino shouted back, not really thinking her words through.

There was a hitch in both Choji's and Naruto's breath. Choji understood what was going through the mind of what was going through the mind of Naruto. He knew this wasn't going to be pretty. "Of course I fucking wouldn't! I am fucking orphan if you haven't already realised!"

"Fuck this! I hope you guys have the time of your lives over there in the capital whilst I am having fun with all of my friends, oh wait, I don't have any because they are all leaving me!" Naruto furiously shouted towards Ino and Choji before turning around to use a katon shunshin. As he did this, tears started to fall down his cheeks.

During all of this, it never got out that both Choji and Ino had been promoted to the rank of chunin.

* * *

**Author's note:**

A fair bit going on this chapter hey! This chapter sets up the next major arc of the story now that the chunin exams are over. I always had the idea of having a victor of the chunin exams as I have never seen that before. I wonder how many were surprised by the curve ball that I threw at the end to have Naruto stay in the village haha.

The next arc that will be taking place will be the bridge between shippuden and the regular canon Naruto although this story will not have a time skip of three years. If there is a time skip, it will probably be a maximum of around one year and a half.

As always thanks for reading and let me know what you think / what can be improved on!


	12. So I prayed I could breakaway

It was safe to say that after the previous day, Naruto Uzumaki didn't get much sleep at all. So many things happened the day before and it was one stressful situation after another for the blonde. It was this which caused Naruto to revert to his favourite past time to cure stress. That was training as it was the only thing that allowed Naruto to tune everything else out around him and focus on bettering himself. The iron would never lie to him, it wouldn't befriend him only to leave six months later. It was always there and would always continue to be there.

With it being an autumn morning, Naruto wanted to make the most of his training session and practice two different skills at once. This was why Naruto was in a pair of compression shorts which borderline could be called undies. The next step in fire manipulation that he knew of was to use katon chakra to manually regulate his body temperature. Obviously the colder he was, the more challenging it was going to be but Naruto was determined to make this work. The added motivation of having winter soon approaching was that if he got this down pat, he could go swimming all year round!

This was an advanced skill and he was not expecting to get it down pat straight away but that was what the training was for. He was going to build up a sweat to counter balance his clothing situation or lack thereof.

Deciding that he would go for a warmup jog around the village, Naruto set off to hopefully clear his head. 5km into his jog and Naruto spotted the normally energetic man Gai standing solemnly at a building. Naruto didn't think much of it as he kept jogging. Gai did however as he turned around when he felt the chakra of someone else nearby. When he turned around he spotted none other than the winner of the chunin exams.

Eager to find out some more, Gai started jogging towards Naruto. Soon he caught up to the boy. "Yosh! Naruto-kun, You displayed a youthful performance during the chunin exams!" Gai said in usual Gai fashion which was to say it loud and proud.

Naruto didn't know what to say. "You're the sensei of Lee, Tenten and Neji correct?" Naruto questioned. He regretted the question as he noticed a look of pain that went over the man's face when he said this. It was then that Naruto remembered the fact that Lee had the very bad injury at the hands of Gaara.

"Yes Naruto-kun, I am the mighty green beast Might Gai!" As he said this, he held up his hand and posed with the biggest smile you could imagine. "So have you received your promotion yet Naruto-kun?"

This threw the blonde haired boy for a loop. How did Gai know about his promotion he wondered? Seeing the look on the face of Naruto, Gai elaborated. "Yosh Naruto-kun! A performance like that during the chunin exams is one that demands a promotion."

A grin appeared on the face of Naruto as he heard this. It was nice to get recognition from your superiors on your performances. It was a good gauge for Naruto in his quest to become an insanely strong shinobi. "Oh, thank you, yeah, I did get my promotion yesterday from Kakashi since Asuma-sensei was out on a mission."

A look of understanding appeared on the face of Gai as he heard this. He hoped the two of them patched up their differences as he could see that Naruto harboured some grudges about the genin exam. "Did you patch up your disagreements with Kakashi-san Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked at Gai for a moment. Given the fact that the man said earlier during the preliminaries that Kakashi and himself were eternal rivals and knew about the exam, Gai would know a whole lot more. "Yes, Kakashi told me why he didn't take me on as a student when I passed the exam. After that we sorted out everything."

Gai looked at Naruto for a little bit which made him a bit uncomfortable. "I see. I wasn't sure now that the Sandaime was dead whether or not that rule would be overturned." Gai said purposefully leaving him an escape just in case Naruto didn't know what he was talking about.

"Kakashi told me yesterday that you knew."

"Yes, it was never my place to say as I had no connection to you other than the fact that I am friends with Kakashi. By the way Naruto, I must admit I am very surprised that you have the kaguya bloodline limit. I thought that it was extinct to the world." Gai said, still in a tone of voice that conveyed his seriousness. It was different to see compared to his normal state.

"Yeah, I have no idea how I got it although I am definitely not complaining. It was what allowed me to kill Gaara as I think the surprise effect definitely helped."

Gai's breath hitched. "Yes Naruto. Whilst I know killing is bad and should only be used as a last resort measure, seeing the person who injured Lee so badly being prevented from hurting anyone else does fill me with satisfaction." Gai stated slightly softer than normal.

The second that lee was mentioned, Naruto felt bad for the person who he used to call a friend. He guessed he couldn't really call himself that as he hadn't visited him despite the fact that he was in hospital for the past month. Naruto made a mental note to go and see Lee after he was done with his training. "So how's Lee doing I never got to find out what was wrong with him medically speaking of course."

Gai paused for a moment as this was no doubt tough for him to talk about. "They say that he might never be able to be a shinobi again because the damage." When Naruto heard this, he felt even worse! "There are grains of sand from the attack that crushed part of his body made it so that bone fragments were embedded into his spinal column."

"It's a shame that lee doesn't have my bloodline because instead of having to fix his existing skeletal structure, he could just grow a new one." The second that Naruto said that, it was as if a lightbulb went off inside the head of Gai. There was a new avenue that was now open to the doctors that were previously shut off. Maybe with the use of Naruto's bloodline, they could resolve the issues that Lee had?

"Yosh Naruto-kun. I have just thought that maybe you and your bloodline can help Lee get better. We would have to go and speak to the medical ninjas and find out but we might be able to use your abilities to save lee." Naruto didn't think twice. He would do whatever it took if it meant that Lee would be back to normal.

"Yes, I would be happy to help out however I can."

Gai stopped which caused Naruto to stop. Gai then surprised Naruto by bowing to him. "Thank you Naruto-kun, you have no idea how much this means to me. If there is anything else that I can do to help, let me know."

The newly minted chunin felt weird with the elite Jonin bowing to him. "You don't have to do that Gai. Actually, now that you mention it, my taijutsu doesn't have a definitive taijutsu style as it is but Asuma and Danzo-sensei have tried to help out as much as they could. It would be nice to get training from someone who specialises in taijutsu.

Faster than he could even follow, Gai was standing up straight from bowing. "Yosh Naruto-kun. I would be happy to help you in your taijutsu training. I was even going to request a spar with you as I have never met a dead bone pulse user!" Gai said in usual Gai fashion before turning back into serious mode. "Although Naruto, I am not sure what your relationship is with Danzo and I won't tell you how to live your life but be careful around him."

This was something that intrigued Naruto as up until now, he had never heard anything bad about Danzo. It would be nice to have another opinion on the man. "What do you mean?" As far as he was concerned, Danzo was a solid person. Sure he was strict but that didn't mean you were a bad person.

"As I said before Naruto-kun, I will let you make your own decisions on him but back in the day, Sandaime-sama was known as the light and Danzo was known as the bad. He has had his hand in some shady dealings in the past."

Naruto nodded when he heard this. "Thanks for that, for now he has done nothing bad to me but I will keep an eye out." As Naruto finished speaking, bones started coming out of his body in every different direction. "Now let's get this fight underway!" Naruto said with a grin on his face.

**x-X-x**

Sasuke Uchiha walked into the Hokage's office wondering why it was that he had been called in here. What was even more confusing was the fact that there were quite a few other people in the room. He kind of had an inkling as to what this was about and that was increased when he saw that Naruto kid along with Konohamaru. Admittedly, he wasn't sure if he had done enough to earn the promotion; he hoped that he got lucky though.

"As I am sure you will all find out in the future, time is critical so I will not mince my words here. Asuma can fill in the rest of the blanks after I have said what I have to say." The three nodded at this. "Right, due to military law in action, Jonin such as myself are able to promote promising ninjas to the rank of chunin. Due to the actions of Sunagakure and Otogakure, Konoha needs as many ninjas as possible. You three in particular have shown that you have the potential to lead on missions and you have the skills to back that up.

Let me make this clear though, if we were not at war, some of you would not be getting these promotions." It stung a little bit for Konohamaru and Sasuke when they heard this as they were not earning their promotions by merit but by chance circumstances. For Naruto, he didn't care as he already had his promotion. He knew that he earned it.

"Like with every shinobi until the day that they die, there are skillsets that you need to work on if you want to be able to progress past this point. You will be going on tougher missions but very rarely will you be leading missions as you are still fresh from your promotion." Danzo stated to which they all nodded. It was all they could really ask for at this point.

"With that being said, Kakashi, hand your students their flak jackets." Konohamaru let out a cry of jubilation when this was stated as he was finally one step closer to his dream of becoming the Hokage. Boy was he in for a rude surprise when he found out why he was really here.

Sasuke was a bit more observant than his team mate. "Not that I am complaining but why didn't Naruto get a vest? I mean he did win the chunin exams after all." Sasuke wasn't sure if he liked the guy or not. Whilst he was defeated by not just Naruto but also someone around his age, it meant that there was someone that he could now compare himself to and spar with as he believed himself to be stronger than Konohamaru. It would help him on his quest to kill that man.

It was Asuma who spoke up this time. "Naruto already received his promotion to chunin a couple of days ago. He is here because Danzo-sama has something else to say to you three genin."

"Yes, I will now be getting to the real reason as to why I have called you three here. During one of the discussions to see who would become the next Hokage with the Fire Daimyo, it was decided that there was no one that was really suitable for the permission and those that were didn't want it."

"What! How could anyone not want to become the Hokage!?" Konohamaru loudly stated with confusion in his voice.

Whilst he did share the same sentiment as the boy, he didn't like insubordination to say the least and now was not the time and place. "Silence" was all that Danzo needed to say. It might have helped mentioning that he used killing intent along with the words. "Needless to say, konoha was in a bit of a bind as we need a military leader for the future as their potentially could be the start of the Fourth Great Shinobi War given the invasion and our perceived weakness. It is why Jiraiya is here in the village at the moment and not out elsewhere." Danzo stated. He didn't like long winded speeches but since what he was saying now would shape the future of konoha, he needed to make sure that everything he said was pinpoint accurate.

"So Danzo-sensei not that I don't mind listening to this but what does this have to do with us?" _Danzo-sensei? Maybe if I ask this man here to train me I can finally get the power to defeat Itachi!_ Sasuke thought in his head as picked up on his new rival. He wasn't sure how strong Naruto was before he met this man but surely Danzo would make him progress faster than what he already was.

"After a suggestion, The Fire Daimyo was willing to try something new." When Danzo said this, the eyes of all three chunin in front of him lit up and paid keen attention to what he had to say. "The three of you were listed as the current batch of this generation who have the most potential to become worthy of being a Hokage. The council along with the Daimyo have officially decided to allow the three of you to compete for the position of Hokage." Danzo paused for a moment to let this sink in.

"Wha…!? What do you mean!?" Konohamaru passionately demanded information as it was his lifelong goal to become the Hokage. There was never a time beforehand where he had paid more attention. Konohamaru was hanging off every word that Danzo said.

"There will be a six month trial period where the three of you will get training in the various skillsets that are required to become the Hokage. At the end of the six month period, you will each be judged in various ways and the person who performs the best will be given the title. Of course, with this being such a crucial position, if none of you meet the high standard that will be set, then despite winning the competition, you will not become the Hokage."

The eyes of all three chunin went steely with determination, each with their own reasons. Sasuke knew that all of the Hokage's were at the same level as Itachi and if he was able to get the same training as someone like say Minato Namikaze... Ever since he was born, Konohamaru decided that it wanted to be just like his grandfather and to do that, he would need to become the Hokage. If one of the others got the position then he knew that he would be waiting a long time for the job to become available again.

Naruto on the other hand was slightly different. He wasn't sure whether or not he actually wanted the position of Hokage. He didn't specifically know what the position entailed but he knew that he wanted to train and get strong. As far as he was concerned, training to become the Hokage was going to be tough and hopefully his skills would increase dramatically. At least by the end of the six months if he didn't want it, he could turn it down.

"Now, I have to go to a meeting but Kakashi and Asuma here will explain to you the finer details of this." Danzo said before he got up out of the chair and walked over to the door.

"There will be some form of pre planned training down the track but as of this current moment nothing has been set up. This means that you will need to make arrangements individually as to progressing your training. Now that you are chunin, you don't have exclusive senseis. If either Konohamaru or Sasuke want help from me, I will be happy to provide it but I won't divulge any information on what the other candidates are doing. During this time period, each of you will be expected to go on missions but because of the nature of the your other work, you will be going on less missions than your counterparts to give you time to train for the future. You are free to do whatever you feel will aid you the most outside of sabotaging your competitors." When Asuma finished, Kakashi continued on.

"Yes, you three will be going on missions which are more difficult than what your average newly minted chunin will be going on and you won't be going on them with the safety of myself or in your case Naruto, Asuma there to bail you out of trouble. Another thing is that you will be judged over all of the six months and not just the final exams. You will not be told when you are getting judged and you will not be told how you are getting judged thus meaning you will have to put your best foot forward on every single occasion."

It was a lot to take in for the chunins but they knew that they had to do it or otherwise the others would get an advantage in the competition and that was not acceptable.

"Finally, this is all an S class secret so that if you mention any of this to anyone other than those present inside this room, you will be immediately executed no question. This is a matter of village security as other villages could attack us during this transitional time frame. We want to give off the impression that we are stronger than what we actually are."

**x-X-x**

A day after digesting all of the information on how he was now in the running to become the future Hokage of konoha, Naruto found himself in the torture and interrogation labs. Thankfully for his sanity, he didn't have to meet with Inoichi. Instead he got to meet with Ibiki.

After explaining to the man his whole predicament with Rock Lee and thus getting told by doctors that he would need some practice creating new bones with his bloodline in other people, Naruto decided that there was only one place he could go. He would much rather practice on people who are prisoners of war than practice on innocent civilians.

After three hours later, Naruto had finally decided that he had spent enough time at the labs and decided that he needed a change of pace. There was only so much time that you could spend studying without wanting to neck yourself.

On his way out, Naruto decided that he would treat himself to some food. Sure, he could make himself something but that didn't taste as good as when someone else made it for him. This was the reason why Naruto found himself at the BBQ restaurant that his former team frequented so much. Whilst the meal was soured by the fact that he was there by himself, he had to admit that the place did know how to cook quality meat.

When he decided to exit the place, Naruto was met by someone he did not expect to see. It wasn't as if this meeting was not welcomed, he was just surprised. Standing there in front of him was none other than one of his rivals for the position of Hokage.

"Are you busy?" Sasuke questioned in a blunt as always fashion.

"No, why?" Naruto responded back, preparing himself just in case he was being asked to go on a mission.

It seemed as if Sasuke had trouble forming what he wanted to say next as there was an elongated pause from the raven haired ninja. "I want to spar with you?" The second that he said this, Naruto looked weirdly back at him. It made Sasuke elaborate rather quickly. "It is hard to find people who are in my age bracket that are decent shinobi." The fact that Sasuke lost to Naruto went unspoken.

Naruto merely raised an eyebrow. He internally chuckled at the wording that Sasuke used. Now though that he was freely able to use his bloodline, he wanted a bit more practice in using it in combat situations. That and the fact that he had some energy to burn meant that he was down for this. "Sure, so where do you want to do this?"

"Training ground Seven?" Naruto merely nodded at that.

**x-X-x**

"How are you able to use your fire jutsus so much better than me!" Sasuke raged more at himself as he knew that the grand fireball was a jutsu that was a famous jutsu of the Uchiha clan and yet, here Naruto was using it much better than he was. The problem with this was the fact that he had learnt that Naruto only started learning fire ninjutsus about a year ago whilst he had been practising for so long.

"It looks like you're forcing it. When I use a jutsu, it feels like its natural. It looks like you pause for half a second just before you use the jutsu. Is fire even your dominant element?" Naruto questioned as he dodged the incoming punch from Sasuke. He immediately countered with a sweeping leg kick that Sasuke jumped over.

"What do you mean dominant element?" Sasuke grunted as he didn't lose focus on the fight. With Naruto using his bloodline limit, it made the fight that much harder. That was exactly what Sasuke wanted though as he wanted the toughest challenge to prepare himself for Itachi.

"Oh… well that explains it. Everyone has a natural affinity for a certain element. If you are say a fire user, water jutsus will be hard for you. I bet your problem is that you're using jutsus not from your elemental tree." Naruto replied as he managed to cut Sasuke on the arm with one of his bones.

"Tch figures…" Sasuke said more so to himself than Naruto. He didn't like it when he wasn't in the know. It was just like not being strong enough for Sasuke. He felt as this was a failure on his behalf. The fact that if he had paid attention in class he would have known this went unspoken. "Well how would I go about finding out what my affinity is?" Sasuke grunted as he managed to get his third punch on Naruto.

"Well luckily for you Sasuke-kun, that is where I come in." As this was said, there was a shunshin right in the middle of the pair of chunin fighting. Kakashi blocked both attacks and stood between them. Naruto and Sasuke shared the same thought. _Show off…_

"How long have you been here?" Naruto asked, he thought the two of them were alone.

A grin formed under the mask of Kakashi. "I've been watching you two since you left that restaurant." The deadpan looks Naruto and Sasuke gave him made Kakashi continue to speak.

"Luckily for you two, Sasuke here is this." At this point in time, Kakashi pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and gave it over to the boy. The raven haired Uchiha looked at curiously. He didn't know what he was supposed to do with it. "Channel some chakra into it, depending on the reaction to your chakra, the paper will tell me what chakra nature you have."

"Why didn't we do this earlier? I could have been getting stronger, quicker." When Sasuke said this, Naruto couldn't help but stare at Sasuke's lack of manners. Even he thought it was bad and this was coming from someone who hadn't had any parents to teach him what manners are.

Kakashi eye smiled but if you knew him for long enough, you would have been able to tell that he was annoyed. "I thought that the oh so precious Uchiha would already know what his affinity was given that he is such a prodigy… Just channel some chakra into the paper. As per the hunch that Kakashi had, Sasuke's piece of paper turned into a tight little ball.

"So what does this mean?" Sasuke questioned as he was internally cursing at himself for the mere fact that he didn't pay attention in class. If he knew this then he would be able to go home and practice his newfound skillset.

"Well it means that you get to learn new jutsu!" As he said this, Kakashi created a shadow clone. "Sasuke, I want you to go with my clone and I will teach you a couple of lightning jutsus." The Uchiha didn't care that much about the fact that his fight with Naruto got interrupted. He wanted to learn new jutsus and bridge the gap with Itachi. The fact that Naruto was winning was left unsaid.

"Now that he is away Naruto, there is something that I want to teach you which I didn't want Sasuke watching. This is a jutsu which your father created and for someone who is a close range fighter such as yourself, I think this will be a jutsu that you will make the most out of." Ever since learning who his parents were, Naruto spent most of his time with Kakashi learning more and more about his parents.

This definitely had the attention of Naruto as he wanted to have a link to his father in more than just appearance and mannerisms. It was here that Kakashi threw a balloon at Naruto. This confused the hell out of the blonde. "That there is the first step to mastering the Rasengan." Even if he wasn't the son of the fourth Hokage, Naruto would have known the name of the jutsu. Alongside the Hiraishin, it was folklore in konoha and it was always a question in a game of 20 questions.

"There are three steps to completing the Rasengan but we won't bother with them until you have learnt the previous step. One thing you might not actually realise though is that the Rasengan itself is an incomplete jutsu." Indeed, when this was said to Naruto, the blonde haired boy raised an eyebrow.

"Minato-sensei developed the Rasengan into the pinnacle of nature-less chakra manipulation. He had the intent to then combine it with his affinity but sadly he never got the chance. He hoped that one day, you would be able to complete the jutsu for him by adding in your affinity to it." A grin appeared on the face of Naruto when he heard this as he couldn't help but swell with pride. To know that his parents had that much unconditional faith in him was surprising but definitely not something that he minded at all.

* * *

**Author's note:**

I know the previous chapter was fairly rushed to say the least. I will be going back and editing the chapter to slightly but the end result will still be the same. The next chapter is where changes will occur as this chapter was mostly setting up the next arc.


	13. I'll spread my wings

Having just completed his B-rank mission to tea country; it was decided on the mission that the mission report would be done by the newest member of the team which just so happened to be none other than Naruto. So there he was, standing in front of Danzo giving the mission report in how he managed to kill two bandits whilst his team mates managed to kill a chunin. The escort of the merchant and his goods to the south went without any casualties.

"I am pleased to hear that the mission was successful Naruto-kun. Now before you go, there is one more thing that I want to discuss with you." When Danzo said this, Naruto got nervous. From what he had heard, in situations like this, there was nothing good that his sensei would have to say. Despite this, Naruto had enough pride to take whatever it was and not back down.

"Due to the fragile alliance that is still being held in place with Suna for their invasion, we have received some items from their village which will be of great benefit." Danzo stated as his lone eye stared at Naruto. The blonde haired chunin had to admit, he was curious to see what his sensei looked like underneath all of those bandages.

Naruto paused for a second. Obviously, Whatever this benefit was, it had something to do with himself. Asking about whatever it was would no doubt make Danzo look down on him for asking a stupid question. It was clear to Naruto that Danzo was getting there. "Sorry for asking but why are we still allied with Suna? I mean they broke their alliance with us by attempting to invade konoha."

The interim Hokage was actually glad Naruto was asking questions like this. The whole reason why he had set up the selection criteria for the Hokage position was so that Naruto could be manipulated into the perfect Hokage that Konoha needed. "Suna is weak at the moment, too weak. If konoha was to prevent the alliance from happening then Kumo and Iwa would take advantage of the situation. They would take out Suna and then have the positional advantage to launch attacks onto fire country from two separate directions. We cannot allow this to happen. Once Konoha is strong enough to fend off advances from Kumogakure and Iwagakure, then we will void the agreement from Sunagakure."

Seeing that Naruto comprehended this, Danzo continued on. "As part of the agreement, Konoha demanded the summoning contract which was used by the Shodaime Kazekage. They were unwilling of course but because of their terrible bargaining position, they had no choice but to hand over the summoning scroll." As Danzo said this, he rolled out the large contract that was on the table in front of him.

Naruto looked at it with awe as he had never seen anything like it before.

Patience was something that Danzo wasn't the best with. "Sign the contract in blood. There is work that needs to be done and you can practice this in your own time." Naruto was a bit annoyed with the way he was brushed off. Pushing that to the side for a bit, Naruto looked at the contract and noticed how said which hand seals to use.

After committing that to memory, Naruto signed the contract in blood. "Thank you Danzo-sensei. I know how much summoning contracts can enhance a ninja so I promise that I will make the most of this."

"See to it that you do." Danzo replied with his bland tone of voice which Naruto took the queue to leave the room.

**x-X-x**

From the knowledge that he had garnered during his time spent at the academy, Naruto knew that the summoning jutsu took a whole load of chakra. This meant that he actually had to wait until the next day until he had recovered enough so that he could use the jutsu.

Now that he was outside the borders of konoha in one of the training grounds, Naruto prepared himself. The boy went through the hand seals and channelled all of the chakra in his body bar a small amount through the jutsu. It was the first time that he had used so much chakra in one go and it left the chunin with sweat dripping down his brow and gasping for air.

Due to the nature of the jutsu, Naruto watched as there was a large plume of smoke that was quickly replaced by the largest sand cloud he had seen and that was considering the fact that he had fought Gaara. What appeared when this sand went away was by far the biggest scorpion that he had ever seen.

In front of him was a hexapedal beige/brown scorpion that had a large green gem right in the centre of its forehead. That wasn't the part that instilled fear into Naruto though. It was the glowing green pincers and stinger. He didn't know what they did and he didn't exactly want to find out. The snakes that he saw out of the corner of his eye when he was escorting the daimyo were about 2/3rd the size of this scorpion.

This was so much so that he even voiced his opinion. "Whoa…"

The giant scorpion looked down at the boy who had just summoned him. He had to admit given the age of what the shinobi looked, it was pretty impressive that he was able to summon the boss and have some chakra left over. Despite this, he could help but chuckle at the response given.

"**You were expecting… Sandy Claws**?"

In spite of the fact that he knew he was in a serious situation, Naruto chuckled. Those claws that this scorpion had were just over triple the height of Naruto. It took a few seconds for Naruto to regain his composure as he was still marvelling at the site of the scorpion in front of him.

"Haha, I was given a summoning contract to sign but I was never told what animal summon it was tied to. I guess I was just surprised and not sure what to expect." Naruto replied.

The scorpion seemed to accept this for a moment and then narrowed his gain down onto the boy. "This is not sunagakure. Tell me, where am I and how did you manage to sign this contract."

Not wanting to anger this giant in front of him, Naruto spoke. "You are on the outskirts of Konoha. There was a major skirmish between the villages between Konoha and Sunagakure. This started by an invasion from Suna and since Konoha won, one of the demands that was made, was to hand over your summoning contract. The leader in charge saw fit for me to sign the contract

"**I See. Just because you have signed the contract doesn't mean we will acknowledge you let alone fight alongside you in battle. You must pass a series of tests Naruto**." With that said, all sign of the scorpion and Naruto disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

**x-X-x**

After packing some food, Naruto headed out to the training ground seven. It was here that he had been spending a fair amount of his time. With Asuma constantly going out on missions and his two teammates out on missions, Naruto didn't have a lot of people that he could hang socialize with on a consistent basis. It was here where Sasuke of all people now that he had gotten to know him offered up a solution.

The solution was that the two of them would train together. Of course, Naruto knew that there was the very real chance that Sasuke was solely using this for spying on him in the quest to become the Hokage.

To be honest, this didn't really bother Naruto all that much. Originally, the blonde chunin was used to long bouts of solitude but given the last few months, he had gotten used to having the company of people that he could talk to.

Being an orphan and everything that came with that, Naruto didn't really have anyone else that he could talk to so he didn't mind if Sasuke was using him as a measuring stick in his quest to kill Itachi. It gave the blonde the chance to spend time with some people his own age and that was worth its weight in gold.

A week into the arrangement that both Naruto and Sasuke had set up in which they would arrive at the training ground at 6am, Konohamaru found out about the arrangement. He was not to pleased to say the least as he was determined to not let any of his rivals gain an advantage over him. After all, his quest was to become the Hokage!

Konohamaru self approved the invite that he had given himself to attend this training session. It was then that he was quite disappointed. He didn't know what to expect but he expected there to be ruthless sparring day in and day out. It would be a much different type of workout compared to the one that he was currently used to. That in comparison was severely mind numbing as Ebisu-sensei was forcing Konohamaru to go through all of the basics that he had missed out on before.

Of course, he knew that this was a must. When his grandfather was alive, Hiruzen specifically told Konohamaru that the month long training that they would be doing would focus on getting him as strong as possible, as quickly as possible. Now that the one month period before the chunin exams was gone, he had to abide by his promise and if there was one thing that Konohamaru prided himself on, it was his conviction. If there was something that he said that he would do, then he would do it!

That was why Konohamaru was training the basics which he didn't like all that much to say the least. He wanted to fight and given that Naruto and Sasuke were two people his age that were strong, he couldn't think of any better people to train together with now that his grandfather had unfortunately passed away.

After having finished warming up as three, they each decided to move over to separate parts of the training field as they wanted to work on their ninjutsu without the others watching. It was at this time that the group of foreign shinobi struck.

Kidomaru led his team towards Sasuke and before the boy knew it, there were wires wrapping around his body, well, that at least that was what they thought. Ever since a month ago when he had started fighting Naruto on a consistent basis, Sasuke knew that he had to come up with another way to win his fights as going into a taijutsu spar against Naruto was tantamount to suicide. His bloodline was just far too good at close combat.

He needed to come up with a another way of defeating Naruto and that was through genjutsu. With Konohamaru being the premier ninjutsu user out of the three given his ridiculous chakra reserves and Naruto being the taijutsu specialist, Sasuke was only left with genjutsu out of the main three.

The fact that Itachi was extremely profound in this area didn't hurt either as it meant that it would prepare Sasuke for what he knew he would be up against one day.

"You're a tough character, I like that. I can see why Orochimaru is interested in you." The leader of the team stated as he gave his subordinates the command to attack.

Fighting one on one would be more than fine for Sasuke but that was not what he was doing at the moment. Hell, two on one would be manageable but four on one... well that was definitely a new experience to say the least.

The fat one and the two headed guy were easy enough to deal with for Sasuke thanks to the fact that everyday this past month, he had been sparring with Naruto. Sure, he was on the defensive but the speed of the fight was something that he could fight at without having to use chakra to increase his speed.

Likewise, Sasuke was fairly proficient in combatting against the genjutsu that were being thrown against him from the red haired girl thanks to his recent training and bloodline limit. The person that was giving him trouble was the spider freak with six arms who talked as if everything was a video game.

Fighting against four people at the same time was definitely a first for Sasuke and he was having trouble multitasking despite having the advantage of the sharingan. "If you stay in this shitty village here, you will always be weak like everyone else! You will never become powerful! Playing games with your family and friends will only make you rot."

"Come with us!" This time a different person spoke. It was the red haired girl. "If you do, Orochimaru-sama will give you the power that you seek." As Tayuya said this, the cursed seal on the neck of Sasuke started to flare up.

It was now Sakon's turn to speak up, giving a dose of reality to the Uchiha chunin. "You will lose all form free will. Forever."

"Instead of the cursed seal giving you power, it merely transforms you into Orochimaru's slave. To gain something, you must be willing to sacrifice something else. What is your purpose in life? Will you just forget Itachi and continue to live in this simple village where you and your loser friends can gather and cry on each other's shoudlers? Don't forget your purpose. This village will only become the shackles that bind you. It's best to just cut those worthless connections and in doing so, you will be able to obtain a much greater power.

"I think you gay cunts have sprouted enough shit! To think that if Orochimaru was that interested in you Sasuke, he would have come here himself instead of getting these pieces of trash to come and do it for him; obviously he doesn't think that highly of you." Naruto said loudly which made the four sound ninja instantly turn their heads around. They wanted this to be a private meeting and thought that they had secured that. Obviously that was not the case.

"Yeah! I bet you pathetic pussies are no match for me and Naruto. We will show you that Konoha is much stronger than your insignificant shitstain of a village." Konohamaru shouted in agreement as he was appalled that Sasuke was not already shouting out his commitment to stay in the village. Let it be known that Konohamaru had some grudges to settle against the sound village ever since the death of his grandfather.

Sasuke turned around and saw the two closest to what one would call friends. They were really the only people that he spent time with these days now that he was a chunin. Naruto in particular was someone that proved the point that you didn't need to be from a different village to be strong. He had defeated Sasuke and was only a year older. You needed the determination and good environment to succeed.

If there was one thing that Naruto preached about his success it was that he had determination and a variety of good teachers. If you had only one teacher, it would make you into a mould of that sensei. If you had multiple teachers, then you would get a better rounded education of the shinobi world.

Having Orochimaru as his sole sensei wasn't what Sasuke wanted. He wanted to be strong and he had noticed that he was becoming a better ninja under the tutelage of Kakashi and to a lesser extent Naruto than what he got from Orochimaru. All the snake Sannin did was give him a second chakra network.

Kakashi was the one that made him become a better ninja. Plus, Naruto was right. If Orochimaru was as interested in him as he said he was, then he would have come here himself. To think that he wasn't strong enough that he could just send these freaks after him was an insult on his Uchiha pride.

Five fingers of Naruto lit up in a bright orange. Sasuke had seen this all too well in spars with Naruto and knew that now was time to make his move unless he wanted to get caught in the cross fire.

"Katon: Tenshi Shuryudan (Fire Release: Drilling Finger Grenades!" Naruto muttered under his breath as he launched the jutsu at the enemies. He was confident that Sasuke would find away to get out of the situation without any lasting damage.

Indeed he did as Naruto fired off the jutsu. Sasuke used this distraction to use the replacement jutsu and get out of harms way. Admittedly, the blonde chunin didn't think that this would do much damage but it would be a good way to make this fight 3v4 instead of 2v4.

When the smoke cleared from the explosions, Naruto, Konohamaru were left with some very angry faces, not that this fazed any of the chunins. The one thing that intrigued the three Konoha ninjas was that there were black markings that were going over the face of Jirobo, Konohamaru and Sasuke both instantly knew what this was but Naruto had no idea.

Seeing the look on the face of his comrade, Konohamaru decided to enlighten Naruto. "That's the cursed seal that Orochimaru implants on his victims. It gives the user more chakra but screws with their mind turning them into Orochimaru's little dick sleeve. Actually, on second thought, I can totally see why you would want to go to him since you love getting ploughed up the ass teme!"

"Tch! Shut up dobe!" Sasuke angrily replied with visible anger marring his face which was saying a lot given his rather impressive emotional control.

Naruto merely turned to Konohamaru with a curious expression on his face. "How would you know that that's what Sasuke likes? Is it because you're the one doing it!?"

A red flush rapidly appeared on the face of Konohamaru. "What!? No" Before he could retort any more, the brown haired boy immediately channelled chakra into his wrist. This made the parting gift of his grandfather come into action. The Sarutobi gripped a red staff that came out of the seal and started spinning it relentlessly. With the inclusion of chakra, Konohamaru was able to deflect the incoming rocks aimed for his team.

"We need to focus and kill these scum. They helped Orochimaru kill my grandfather!" killing intent flooded the terrain as Konohamaru couldn't help but get angry and angrier at the thought of that man! First he had killed his grandfather and now he wanted to kidnap his best friend. Well he was not going to let this happen on his watch! What the young Sarutobi was unaware of though was that the jinchuuriki markings on his cheeks were getting progressively darker and darker.

Sasuke felt the need to speak up. "The fat one showed that he prefers taijutsu, same with the two headed freak. The six armed guy likes to use ninjutsu who uses spider webs. The girl is a genjutsu user so I will take her since I am the best genjutsu user. Naruto take the spider man and Konohamaru take the other two until either Naruto or myself have killed our opponents and we will come help you."

Naruto didn't have anything against that plan and since this was not a mission there was no designated leader of the mission. "Right but if you guys can help it, try not to kill them." It was at this point the duo looked at Naruto. "We should take them back to that Ibiki guy from the chunin exams and let him extract absolutely every bit of information from them and then kill them."

A dark grin appeared on the face of Naruto when spoke again. "That doesn't mean that we won't be able to dish a hell of a lot of damage to them!"

"You think that you guys are strong enough to do that!? Huh you guys don't even look that challenging. This is a low difficulty mission." Kidomaru replied before chewing on something in his mouth before firing it at Naruto.

"You two go! I'll be fine by myself." Naruto shouted as he mentally prepared himself for his newest fight. As he said this, Naruto triggered the jutsu that he had been working on when he was training with Danzo. The endoskeleton jutsu allowed Naruto to be hit and take significantly less damage than what other people would.

Of course, there was the weak point being the joints which he had to have otherwise he would lose a ton of flexibility but that was not something that was known to anyone. With the skeleton activated, it allowed Naruto to take a calculated risk. He wanted to see what he was dealing with in this fight. That was why he took the spider web that was shot at him and let it hit him in his hand, pinning it to the tree behind him. Curious as to how strong it was, Naruto tried to pull his arm free and noticed that it didn't budge an inch. There was a bit of panic in the eyes of Naruto as he saw the incoming kunai from his opponent.

The blonde chunin switched it up. Instead of channelling plain old regular chakra into his hand, Naruto channelled Katon chakra and watched how it burnt through the silk with ease. Naruto grinned as he had a new way to combat his foe and then, in an instant, he disappeared.

Naruto appeared right in front of Kidomaru with bones coming out of every joint in his body and Naruto managed to swipe his elbow so that the spike managed to just scrape the right arm of Kidomaru. The Uzumaki didn't waste any time as he attempted to give a vicious kick to the thigh of his opponent. Unfortunately for Naruto, this was where the six arms of Kidomaru kicked in. He was able to block the attack

_This is just like fighting Kimimaro! He is far too quick and deadly for me to handle in a close range fight. I need to make this a long range fight!_

Holding Naruto with his arms, Kidomaru surprised Naruto by forming a kunai. What Naruto noticed was that this one just so happened to a different colour than the previous web. This string solidified right in front of Naruto's very eyes and watched in horror as it was shot right into his clavicle.

Kidomaru on the other hand was shocked at the damage done as he didn't expect it to only embed so far. Sure, he hadn't been able to get that much momentum but since he used his chakra to fire it off, it surely should have sunk into his skin more. He had to shake this off though as he felt his hands heating up rapidly; it would not be good if his hands were so burnt that he couldn't use chakra.

Kidomaru instantly let go and used the shunshin to put some distance between the two. _This guy is a taijutsu monster like Kimimaro-sama. There's no way that I can enter a close range fight and win._ As these thoughts were running through the mind of the Otogakure ninja, his cursed seal had already activated and was repairing the damage that had been done by Naruto at a slightly faster rate.

_I can't let him hit me with those kunai that he made often. Whilst it hit my endoskeleton and not my organs, taking hits like that isn't fun. He seems like he wants to make this into a long range fight, well that's fine with me as I have a few jutsus that I want to test out as well._

_Katon: Haisekishō (Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning)_Naruto chanted in his mind as it helped him use the new jutsu. This was the first time that he had field tested it so he was definitely curious as to what would happen.

Fresh with a large supply of chakra that would only continue to grow as he got older, Naruto poured a fair amount of chakra into the jutsu. When he was satisfied with the amount of ash that had been deposited into the forest, Naruto smirked and released the trigger.

**x-X-x**

If Konohamaru's heart was beating fast before, well it definitely was when he felt the explosion and felt the heat hit his face. it hurt but he knew that he could handle it. He didn't know who had done it but he hoped that his friends were not caught in the crossfire. The burn marks that appeared on his arm were already starting to heal thanks to the Bijuu chakra coursing through his veins.

A grin formed on the face of Konohamaru though as he saw that he wasn't the only one to take damage from whatever the hell that explosion was. One of the body double people of whatever they were took some serious damage and had burn marks all over his face.

"Sakon! We need to combine! Ahh this shit hurts!" Ukon called out to his brother. The duo appeared together and started the merging process allowing Ukon to heal up.

Konohamaru had placed his staff back into its seal and prepared for a ninjutsu fight and if there was one thing that was known about jinchuuriki, then you knew not to get into a ninjutsu cockfight because you simply wouldn't win. Jinchuuriki pretty much had a never ending chakra supply.

"Doton: Doryudan (Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet Jutsu)" Naruto called out with vehemence as a dragon head rose out of the ground and started firing off balls of rock at his two enemies.

"Doton: Doroku Gaeshi (Earth Release: Earth Shore Return)" Jirobo called out as he made a wall come up and block the bullets from hitting either him or Sakon / Ukon. _Whoever this kid is, he sure is tasty._

_Konohamaru moved forward from the defensive wall and used it as cover. Using one of the jutsus taught to him by his grandfather, the chunin went underground and managed to surprise the two and summoned his power pole before smashing Jirobo in the face. Naruto planned to go continue the attack but was stopped by Sakon who launched a vicious kick in his direction._

_This kid is a jinchuuriki! Fuck! This makes it much harder than normal since I can't use any of my bloodline techniques. __Thankfully for the Otogakure ninja, not being able to use his clan techniques didn't render his offensive output to just taijutsu and weapons. There was a reason why he was one of the sound four._

_"Raiton: Raikyu! (Lightning Release: Lightning ball) Sakon called out and unleashed the ball at Naruto who used his enhanced physical abilities thanks to the Kyubi to evade the attack._

_Sakon wasn't entirely concerned with the jutsu not hitting its intended target because he was mainly using this as time for Jirobo to get back on his feet. Apparently the previous attack had hurt / angered the orange haired person to the point that he had activated his cursed seal to the second level._

_"Doton: Doryu Dango! (Earth Release: Earth Mausoleum Dumpling!)" Jirobo shouted as he picked up a large boulder from the earth below and heaved it in the direction of Konohamaru. He may have been feeling the effects of the cursed seal as Jirobo was pretty much running on fumes at the moment. There was not really any form of strategy as he wished to simply brute force his opponent._

_Sakon found himself having to take control of the situation and guiding Jirobo on how to fight. __Ugh! This is so troublesome!_

Despite having the Kyubi inside him clouding his judgement, Konohamaru knew that it was not wise at all to try and take that boulder head on. He knew that he would have to dodge it and dodge it he did. Konohamaru followed it up with the grand fireball jutsu.

**x-X-x**

Fighting against one opponent was much easier in comparison to fighting off four. Sasuke Uchiha actually felt like he had the upper hand in this fight against Tayuya. Sure, he was on the back foot because he was going up against these Doki creatures or whatever they were, but he was not feeling any sense of danger.

Thanks to the sharingan, Sasuke was able to easily see the incoming attacks of the creatures. In addition to this, Sasuke was able to see the chakra coming towards him in the form of a genjutsu. The fact that he had been practicing this over the past month was something that Sasuke was very much thankful for.

The Uchiha chunin was confident that he was using far less chakra than his opponent and was banking on this having a large impact on the fight down the track. Up until this point, Sasuke had only been using Kunai and shuriken against the three summons whilst dodging. The great thing was that he wasn't using any form of chakra to keep up the speed he was fighting at apart from what it took to activate the sharingan.

Now that he had surveyed the fight just like Uchiha's of old, Sasuke knew that it was time to act. As much as he hated to admit, he had kind of grown to tolerate the presence of both Naruto and Konohamaru. He didn't want anything to happen to them as they were the shield that protected him from the likes of Sakura. God she was annoying.

Sasuke showcased why everyone labelled him as a prodigy. Sasuke used the skills in ration manipulation that he had learnt in a month and channelled some ration chakra into a kunai and watched as it sped through the air, coming in contact cleanly with the forehead of the armless Doki. It wasn't the most polished form of elemental manipulation but it definitely got the job done.

A puff of smoke happened and now Sasuke was only fighting up against two summons.

**x-X-x**

Three konoha chunins were unaware that reinforcements were coming for the Otogakure ninjas. Sure it might have only been one ninja but when that one ninja was easily able to defeat all of the sound four at once, it meant that it was significant reinforcements nonetheless.

Kimimaro was coming and he was eagerly awaiting the chance to the meet the only other person in the world who carried the same bloodline as him.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

It has been a little while since my most recent update. Hopefully this chapter makes up for the wait. As always, let me know what you think of the chapter and if you have any suggestions to make this a better story, feel free to send them my way!


	14. And I'll learn how to fly

Naruto dodged the incoming arrow. It took a bit of skin with it and Naruto knew that he was at a disadvantage if he kept this fight going on from a distance. The spider that had been summoned by Kidomaru was raining spiders down on him but thankfully Naruto was able to deal with them fairly easily. A well placed fire ninjutsu was enough to render all those spiders dead. It didn't stop the mother from producing more and more spiderlings as time went on to attack Naruto. The problem was that he had no idea what was on the fangs of the spiders. For all he knew, they could be covered in poison so he couldn't let any one of them touch him. That would only make the fight harder as time went on.

"**This game is finally getting exciting! You're a pretty good player but you're still not as good as me!**" Kidomaru shouted as he was forced to activate the second level of his cursed seal. He didn't normally have to do this so it made a grin form on his face.

Naruto was more than happy keeping this fight long range as he was used to fighting close range and it was valuable experience. The problem for Naruto though was that outside of his fire manipulation, the only other forms of long range combat he had was his finger bullets. Because he had them, he didn't carry kunai and shuriken.

Since he was on the outskirts of konoha, Naruto knew that he couldn't start a whole host of fires as that could potentially do damage to the nearby farms which serviced the village. That was not an option. Danzo-sensei would not be pleased if something like that happened when it could be avoided.

"Kuchiyose: Baro no Sutoraiku Jutsu (Summoning: Burrow Strike Jutsu)" Naruto called out as he placed his hands on the ground and half a second later, right beneath the mother spider, a large scorpion launched itself from underground. It used the momentum of the jump to go claws first into the air. Before the spider could even react, the scorpion had clamped down hard on the legs of the spider with its pincers. The scorpion was far enough away that when it hit the spider at the apex of its jump, the spider was not able to get its fangs in range.

The scorpion used gravity to its advantage as it fell to the ground taking the spider along with it. The arachnid hit the ground first and as it bounced up from the ground, the stinger of the scorpion went right through the head of the spider. A few more strikes later and the spider died right there.

As much as he would like to stay with his summons and thank them for the help, he had a mission to complete.

Naruto had a rough idea as to where his enemy was judging from the angle of the jutsu that had been used on him. There was a fair amount of damage that had been done and it was only thanks to his bloodline limit that Naruto didn't have any serious damage done to him. A smirk appeared on the face of Naruto and he rocketed off as fast as he could. If he wasn't able to gain anything from prolonging this fight, then the blonde haired boy didn't see any real benefit to keeping it going.

Naruto was not the best sensor; far from it in fact as he wasn't versed in the art at all. Despite this, even he was able to sense the foul chakra coming from his opponent. It was faint but he could tell where it was coming from. Ever since the chunin exams, this was the first fight that he had been pushed to the limit and it made a smirk appear on his face.

Despite the fact that he had the dead bone pulse, Naruto knew that he wasn't invincible. With the amount of chakra the enemy he was facing was putting out, if he put that into an arrow which hit, Naruto was fairly confident it would go straight through. It was why he made a point to move as fast as possible whilst zig-zagging in direction unpredictably as possible.

He had dodged two of the more powerful arrows by the skin of his teeth when Naruto grinned. He saw a glimpse of his enemy and channelled chakra into his legs so that he could move that much faster.

Seeing the sight of his enemy, Naruto fired off some regular finger bullets. Admittedly, Naruto didn't expect for these to hit. It would be great if they did but he planned for them to miss. What he was hoping it would do was that it would make the retreat of Kidomaru to a safer location in the direction in the direction that Naruto wanted. It did as The vice-captain of the sound four darted away from the bones. "Ninpou: Shunshin no Jutsu (Ninja Arts: Body Flicker Jutsu) Naruto said to himself and left with a wisp of fire in his wake.

Naruto appeared right in front of Kidomaru with a hand outstretched. This was the first time that he was going to field test the jutsu that Kakashi had started teaching him a month ago. "Rasengan!" Naruto shouted as he launched the sphere of chakra viciously into the upper chest of his opponent.

It grinded into the skin of Kidomaru and there was no surprise whatsoever as he screamed out in pain from the damage being done.

Naruto watched in awe as he saw the damage that the Rasengan was capable of. It didn't just hit the enemy and then dissipate. It continued on through and carved a cavern into Kidomaru's chest. Blood started flying out of his chest and Naruto cursed as he knew that he was supposed to leave his opponent alive so they could interrogate him. Whelp, he hoped that his two friends were doing better

After surveying the damage that had been done by the Rasengan, Naruto realised that Kidomaru was not going to make it. Naruto decided to be nice and finish him off. "Katon: Tenshi Shuryudan (Fire Release: Drilling Finger Grenades)" Naruto called to himself as he pointed his hand down at the enemy and fired the jutsu. All five bullets hit the Kidomaru in a vertical line before exploding on impact. Bits of blood, bone and organs went flying in every single direction.

Knowing that he had to go help Konohamaru who was fighting two against one, Naruto sped off in the direction of his colleague.

"Just where do you think you are going?"

**x-X-x**

Sasuke was having a much better time in his fight with Tayuya. Thanks to all of the constant sparring that he had done with Naruto over the past month, Sasuke had improved his taijutsu and physical conditioning immensely.

That with the inclusion of the chokuto in his right hand made it easy for the black haired boy to dodge the incoming attacks from the Doki. Sasuke realised that Naruto was on another level when it came to taijutsu thanks to his bloodline that he was not going to be able to match. That was something that he realised pretty quickly due to heavy defeats.

Thanks to a few mission that he had been on which had ninjas using swords, Sasuke had meagre knowledge in kenjutsu. This would only ever get better when he fought opponents who were better in kenjutsu than the ones that he had already faced. At the moment Sasuke was using a sword from his clan compound whilst waiting for the one that he had specifically ordered to channel lightning chakra to arrive.

The raven haired Uchiha decided that he had managed to steal all of the jutsus from his enemy that he could. Now there was no point in prolonging the fight especially since Konohamaru was fighting against two people.

_Not again _Sasuke thought as he vowed to himself that he was never again going to lose the people close to him like what had happened all those years ago. He had finally started opening up to Konohamaru and to a much lesser extent Naruto. It was always a fear that the Uchiha had in that he didn't want to have to go through the same pain again.

Plus, these people were after him and his friends were thrust into a fight that they didn't have any place in. Sasuke didn't want Konohamaru or Naruto to get injured because people were after him.

"I'm done playing games. This fight will be over soon." Sasuke muttered under his breath. With his eyes now at the third tomoe thanks to another near death experience courtesy of Naruto, Sasuke could faintly see the haze of chakra which Tayuya was sending in his direction. Despite her wanting to keep this fight long range, it was soon going to change.

Raiton chakra started coursing through the metal as gave a bit more potency to the blade. With the way that the blade was shaking, Sasuke could tell that it didn't have that long of a life span but he didn't care, he would be getting a new blade soon.

Sasuke made a move and charged at the closest Doki in front of him and sliced the head off the summon with a swipe of his blade. Before the other summons could react, a horizontal slash and a stabbing motion were made. Blood started pouring from the wounds that the Uchiha had made whatever the hell was in front of him and some of it even landed on his face.

It was definitely not a pleasant experience for the chunin but he knew that it came with the job. He definitely didn't expect to be a clean ninja all his life.

A slight constricting feeling started appearing all over Sasuke's body as he fought the Doki. _Now I know that I didn't let any of those ogre freaks hit me so they couldn't have poisoned me and I have the sharingan on so this can't be a genjutsu... so what is it? _Sasuke asked himself as he felt as if he was being tied up and the feeling was only getting stronger as every passing second went by.

_That flute! She's got to be using that to be doing this and the only thing that would fit would be sound based genjutsu; all genjutsus target the senses and most go for the eyes as they are the most relied upon sense but this one must be different. It must go for the hearing since I have the sharingan which can see all sight base genjutsus! _Sasuke thought to himself as he remembered reading everything he could on the art of genjutsu since he knew that one day, he would have to go up against the world's best genjutsu user, that being his brother.

Sasuke held his free hand in the ram symbol and channelled chakra. His eyes widened and he almost shat his pants with how close he was from being dead. It was only thanks to the sharingan that Sasuke was able to see the incoming kunai and react in such a small space of time.

_If I didn't have the sharingan then I would have died there. I need to be better than this! Itachi won't let me make the same mistakes! _Furious with himself for his apparent weaknesses, Sasuke charged off in the direction where the kunai came from and caught a glimpse of chakra.

He smirked, now knowing that this fight was as good as over.

_Fuck shit fuck cunt shit wanker slut _was the internal monologue as she saw the target coming at a very fast speed towards her. She knew that she was a specialized ninja and long range combat was ideal. She desperately needed to make the distance between the two grow so that she could re-summon some Doki.

Tayuya threw multiple kunai and shuriken at Sasuke but the sharingan was simply too good despite the red haired girl activating her level two cursed seal. The throwing power boost she received didn't mean anything to the sharingan which allowed Sasuke to parry away the incoming pieces of metal.

Fear started rapidly forming inside of Tayuya as she knew she was up shit creek without a paddle. Her opponent had her on the ropes and he knew it. To compound onto this, she knew that Sasuke was faster than her which meant that she couldn't run away.

"You should have learnt that there is a reason why the Uchiha clan are so feared around the world. It isn't something that was said without being backed up and I will now show you why we are so feared."

"You pathetic little fuckers can't be feared! You all got killed off by one guy talk about w-" Tayuya couldn't finish her statement as Sasuke rammed the electricity charged sword right into the throat of his enemy. It smashed through the teeth and came out the other side; blood started freely pouring out of the hole that the Uchiha chunin had just made.

Sasuke pulled the blade out of the woman. For confirmation sakes, Sasuke sliced his enemy's head off just to confirm that she couldn't get back up and do some damage to him.

As he wiped his sword on the girl's clothes, the raven haired boy then sheathed his blade and headed off in the direction of where Konohamaru last was. He didn't mind so much in killing his opponent as it would allow him to go and help his friend… comrade, yeah comrade that much quicker. When he knew Konohamaru was fine, then he could worry about capturing one of them for an interrogation.

**x-X-x**

"Just where do you think you're going Uzumaki Naruto?" A voice from behind him questioned just as Naruto planned to go help his friends. As soon as he heard this, Naruto immediately turned around to see someone sporting the same belt that the other sound ninjas had.

"I'm going to go save my friends." Naruto said with narrowed eyes but he got the impression that he wasn't going to be able to do that. Not with this guy standing near him.

"You won't be doing that, not today." His opponent stated with a deadpan expression.

The blonde was getting annoyed. "And why the hell wouldn't I be doing that?"

"Because your fight is with me trash." The teenager who was a few years older than Naruto stated and then rushed at Naruto at a frightening speed. Quickly, Naruto brought up his arm to block the strike.

_Shit! This guy is fast. If I wasn't warmed up from my previous fight, he could have done some serious damage to me just then. _Naruto thought to himself whilst taking in air. Whilst the previous fight did indeed warm him up, it was also a double edged sword as it left him not at full strength.

"Just who the hell are you?" Naruto questioned as he blocked another punch. As he said this, Naruto re-activated his bloodline and became more comfortable with his bones out.

"Trash like you doesn't deserve to find out my name but I will tell you the name of the person who will defeat you." Kimimaro stated as he looked down at Naruto, trying to judge the boy. Admittedly, he didn't want to kill Naruto but he knew that his master's goal came before anything else; even if that anything else was long lost family.

A bone started coming out of the skin but it wasn't Naruto's arm that it came out of! "My name is Kimimaro Kaguya and I am here to see your abilities Naruto."

Naruto was definitely in for a rude awakening as he saw that he was not the only person in the world to manipulate his bones into weapons. As far as he was concerned, he was the only person who could do it and had come to terms with the fact that he was the last of his kind.

"Kaguya! I thought that I was the only person that had the dead bone pulse?" Naruto said out loud although it was more to himself than Kimimaro. A million things were going through his mind at the moment and he struggled to keep focus on the fight.

A thin layer of blood started appearing from the cut that had been made by Kimimaro. Despite the fact that he was in a fight to what seemed like the death, Naruto was glad that he wasn't wearing a shirt underneath his chunin flak jacket. _Heh, at least I don't have any bloodstains to clean out if I don't wear any clothes._

"Despite the fact that we are fighting, I have to say that I am happy. This is the first time that I am meeting some of my family." A tiny smile appeared on the face of Kimimaro as Naruto said this before it was squashed. He had a job to complete for Orochimaru-sama

"The feeling is mutual. One thing I am curious about is how you have the bloodline. The Kaguya clan was wiped out by Kirigakure a long time ago and you don't even share the same name as our clan." Kimimaro asked, wondering just how the bloodline of his clan ended up all the way in konoha. Despite the fact that he didn't like konoha at all, he still felt that it was a better choice than Kiri given their issues the past few years.

"To be honest, I have no idea about it. The only thing I can think of was that one of my ancestors was from the kaguya clan and then the gene was spread but laid dormant. I don't even know if it was my mother or my father who had the gene." Naruto replied, a grin forming on his face as he managed to make his own cut appear on his opponent for the day.

Not satisfied with that, Naruto fired off 10 finger bullets right at his enemy which were fairly easily dodged. Kimimaro responded in kind by firing off the exact same jutsu at Naruto. The two shared a locked gaze. _I have to prove myself since he's an original kaguya!_

_I can't make this easy for Naruto. Whilst I have a mission to complete, I also know that I don't have much time left remaining. Now that I know my clan is not going to die out, I have to make sure that it is in good hands. _Kimimaro thought to himself. Despite having loved nothing more to have a family to call his own, he definitely didn't want to pass down the genetics that he had.

This disease he had was not something that he wanted his child to suffer from. With the recent turn of events in finding out that Naruto had the bloodline, Kimimaro could find solace in that the clan would continue on.

Despite all of that, he had a mission to complete for Orochimaru-sama and that was of the upmost importance. Kimimaro watched as Naruto fired off. He didn't pay much attention to them as they were fired right in front of his feet. He should have.

These were different. It was only the last second when Kimimaro noticed the fact that these finger bullets were different from normal ones. _He's gone down the route of combining his element with the dead bone pulse! I can't believe I never thought of that! _The kaguya realised at the last second but it was too late to dodge the attacks now that they were so close.

The second that the finger grenades made contact with the ground right in front of Kimimaro, they exploded in a shower of burning bone fragments. It was far too late for the kaguya to dodge the incoming attack so he did the best thing he could, he brought his hands up to protect his upper body and face from the damage.

A slight grimace was heard by Naruto from his opponent. Naruto grinned as he knew that this meant that some of the attack connected. Not wanting to waste any time, the blonde haired boy went through some hand seals. "Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Jutsu!)"

Before the jutsu was even close to him, Kimimaro could feel the incoming heat. He couldn't see it from the smoke cloud from the previous jutsu but he knew where it was coming from. _Curse this trash, I have to dodge this attack or otherwise I will be burnt alive! I have to complete my mission for Orochimaru-sama. I definitely didn't expect any konoha scum to force me into using my cursed seal but I guess it had to be the kaguya clan member._

The first stage of the cursed seal granted to him by his master activated and covered his body in black tribal-esque markings appeared all over his body. A few patches of skin were missing and whilst that definitely did hurt, all of his major organs were still fine so Kimimaro persevered through the pain. The small healing ability provided by the cursed seal would definitely be in action today.

Panting for breath, Naruto watched how his opponent came out of the cloud of smoke and waited. He was pretty confident that attack had to have done some damage to Kimimaro.

Naruto realised that shit just got real and he was in for a whole new world of hurt. The sound ninja rocketed forward in the direction of Naruto slammed his elbow into the boy. Whilst he new that he had a fight to finish, Kimimaro for the first time in a long time decided to be selfish.

With the clan about to be down to one member soon enough, he had to ensure that the future of the clan was in good hands. If he killed Naruto straight away, then that would put that in jeopardy.

Wheezing, Naruto got up as quickly as possible from the hit and blocked the incoming swipe that would have surely ended his life. Whatever it was that was increasing Kimimaro's abilities was something that forced Naruto into stepping it up a gear.

**x-X-x**

Konohamaru was dealing with his three enemies. It wasn't easy but if there was anyone who could do it, it would be the Kyubi juggernaut. With the amount of chakra that he had at his disposal, it meant that he was the best person to stall out the fight until help from either Naruto or Sasuke came. Given the fact that these people in front of him were accomplices helping Orochimaru murder his grandfather, Konohamaru was contemplating going on the offensive and ripping them to pieces but he had a role to play and if he wanted to become the hokage, he needed to follow the rules.

Personal satisfaction wasn't worth losing his friends though so the boy played the patient game and waited until one of his comrades came and helped him out.

Konohamaru launched another fireball at his enemy, still playing the stalling game. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something and couldn't help but grin. He now knew that it was time to go onto the offensive and thanks to the fact that he had the Kyubi inside of him, Konohamaru had all the chakra in the world to facilitate that.

The Sarutobi heir pulled the red staff from his back and grinned as he felt the kyubi's chakra race through him. Whilst most of his training came from his grandfather, he had to attribute the usage of the kyubi's chakra to Jiraiya. His whisker marks were more pronounced, eyes were crimson red with black slits and there were faint traits red chakra surrounding him but nothing more.

A familiar sound of a thousand chirping birds rang through the air and Konohamaru couldn't help but look on in jealousy. He had seen just how much damage that the jutsu Sasuke was using could do and wanted one of his own. It was too bad that with earth release as his main element, learning a high powered lightning release jutsu would be easy by any stretch of the imagination.

A split second later and Konohamaru realised that now was his time to go on the offensive. After seeing Sasuke take out one of the twins, Konohamaru realised that if he didn't want to miss out on getting some revenge against the people who helped kill his grandfather, then he was going to have to act soon.

Konohamaru sprinted off the ground and raced to the fat enemy whose attention was focused solely on Sasuke. Admittedly, he wished that this fight was a bit harder but he couldn't complain as he was confident that no one was going to come out of this without any serious injuries.

Racing forward, Konohamaru smashed the end of the pole into the stomach of Jirobo before launching a vicious slam with the other end of the pole into the back of jirobo's head. The force from the attack was enough to push the man's head face first into the ground. A sickening crack noise came when bone connected with dirt. Blood was flowing freely. It wasn't a pretty sight.

Konohamaru didn't rest on his laurels though as he swung his stick with one final blow into the base of his opponent's neck. Once again sounds were made and this time it was in the form of a snapping sound.

"…" Konohamaru couldn't offer up any words as he stared down at the victim of his first kill. Sure. He knew that it was something that was expected since he was a ninja but it wasn't easy to stomach. The only saving grace that was running through his mind at the moment was that the person who he killed was an accomplice of Orochimaru.

"Konohamaru, snap out of it!" Sasuke shouted, annoyed at his teammate. "Death is something that you will have to come to deal with in this profession. Now do you want to gain revenge to the people who killed your grandfather or not? This person here is in a genjutsu. Do you want to give the final blow or do you want me to do it?" Sasuke offered as he knew just how much of a big deal revenge was. If Konohamaru was in the same position with Itachi, he would expect his comrade to give him the offer.

This did indeed snap the chunin out of his funk. Konohamaru shook his head to rid himself of his thoughts. "Thanks Sasuke-teme. I will do it." Konohamaru said before pulling out a kunai. He couldn't bring himself to slice the neck of his enemy but he felt confident in being able to do it from a distance.

A minute and an earth release jutsu later and the evidence of murder was buried beneath the ground. "We should head over to where Naruto is. We don't know what state he is in or if he has defeated his target." Sasuke stated as he took command of the situation. After all, it was people after him that brought his comrades into this mess. He wasn't about to let the closest things he had to friends die because of that!

**x-X-x**

blood freely fell from the but on his forehead from the cut inflicted by Kimimaro. His knees were weak, his arms were heavy and he constantly had to keep wiping the blood out of his eyes if he wanted to stand a chance against his distant relative. It was easily the toughest fight by far that he had been in and it didn't seem like it was going to let up any time soon.

Naruto wiped away the blood from his eyes for the fourth time. "Katon: Tenshi Shuryudan (Fire Release: Drilling Finger Grenades)" Naruto called out. _I guess it will have to do. _He knew it was bad to call out the name of each jutsu but it would serve its purpose.

Jumping back from his position in the field, Naruto was glad that there were trees nearby because he sure as shit knew that if he had to fight up against Kimimaro in an open field, he would be a corpse right about now.

_Whatever those markings are, they sure gave him a power boost. Is this the shit that Sasuke has access to? _Naruto thought to himself as he could definitely see some benefits to having it but surely, for something so powerful there had to be consequences.

When he wasn't using it, Naruto was able to fight Kimimaro to a standstill. Both landed hits and Naruto liked to think that he was slowly getting the edge over his opponent. The only saving grace that Naruto could see was that Kimimaro was coughing quite frequently.

Given his opponent, Naruto would have loved to be facing a fully fit Kimimaro so that he could test his bloodline to the fullest, he was not complaining. This was a fight that there was only going to be one person walking away from alive. Both parties had conflicting missions and there was no emotional attachment allowing for a truce to occur.

"You are quite skilled Naruto, far better than the rest of the trash that Konoha has produced." Kimimaro said with a panting breath.

He didn't show it but he was quite happy with that comment. Ever since he found out that he had the dead bone pulse bloodline, Naruto wondered what his distant relatives would think of him and his abilities.

"But you are still no match for me." Kimimaro stated before he raced towards Naruto.

"Oh yeah, well we will see about that!" Naruto returned serve and just as the two kaguya clan members were about to clash in a forest of bones, Sasuke appeared.

Sasuke, without warning slammed a high powered kick into the unsuspecting Kimimaro's obliques, smashing him into a tree. "What the fuck Sasuke? This is my fight!" Naruto shouted in the heat of the moment.

"Tch, you looked like you needed it." Sasuke replied, annoyed at the fact that he was coming to aid his friend and it was getting shoved back into his face.

"Sorry Sasuke, it's just look who my opponent is. This is more than just some random enemy ninja. This is a fight that I need to do on my own." When Naruto said this, Sasuke looked over and noticed what Naruto was talking about. Instantly, he understood. If he finally got to have a fight with Itachi, he wouldn't want Naruto or Konohamaru for that matter interfering with in the fight unless absolutely necessary and even then he would probably have a grudge against that person.

"Fine, but if it ever looks like you are going to get yourself killed, Konohamaru and I are going to step in whether you like it or not. I actually want a challenge in this race for hokage and with you gone all I have left to prove myself against is the dobe and that is no challenge at all!"

Naruto Smirked and turned his attention back to his distant cousin whilst he could hear a "Hey!" in the background.

_I'm not going to last much longer, I can feel it and even if I did defeat Naruto, I would have to contend with the jinhcuuriki and Sasuke before I can even think of bringing the Uchiha back to Orochimaru-sama. It's easy to tell that he does not want to come._

For the first time in a long time, Kimimaro decided he wanted to be selfish. He wanted to follow his own goals rather than those of Orochimaru. With that thought in mind, Kimimaro activated the final stage of the cursed seal, knowing that it was only going to hasten his death.

"Well fuck me." Naruto muttered to himself as he noticed what was happening to his distant cousin's body.

To his horror, Kimimaro did something that none of the three Konoha ninjas in attendance thought was possible. Sure, Naruto had toyed with the idea but he had never seriously considered it. Kimimaro pulled his spine out of his upper back and didn't die from it.

"Let's see how you handle this young Naruto." And in a dash, the enemy ninja vanished reappearing about five metres away from Naruto and swung the bone whip. Thanks to the cartilidge in the spine, Kimimaro was able to use it as a whip.

"Ahh." Naruto cried out in pain as thankfully he had his endoskeleton jutsu working overtime. Bone raked on bone but not before having sliced through skin as if it was butter. Blood was spurting out of the wound.

Naruto was lucky he had his endoskeleton jutsu running on overtime because if it wasn't for that, he was confident that he would have died.

Konohamaru who watched this happen, couldn't take it. He couldn't bear to see another one of the sound ninjas taking the life of one of his leaf village comrades. Over the course of the last few weeks, he had gotten to know Naruto and whilst he wouldn't consider the guy his friend just yet, he still didn't want him to get permanently hurt.

Going into action Konohamaru went through some hand seals and slipped into the ground beneath him.

Unaware of what was going on, Naruto knew that he needed to go on the offensive, he couldn't keep taking hits like that and expect to live to tell the tale. The quicker he ended this, the better.

_I have to end this fight close range. If we stay at this distance, he is going to keep pulverising me with that whip! _ A thought was in the back of his mind as to what he could do when he got up close and personal with his enemy but he wasn't sure if it would work. He had tested it in training but he had never field tested it. What's the worst that could happen he thought?

In a speed that he hadn't displayed before, Naruto raced forward, hoping to cut the distance and making the whip less powerful, Naruto held out his right hand, chakra forming.

Kimimaro watched with interest, waiting to see what Naruto would do.

With his left hand, Naruto quickly did the hand seals for the shunshin and disappeared with a fire trailing behind him. The second he reappeared in front of Kimimaro, Naruto thrust his palm into the chest of his opponent.

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted out as he thrust the ball of chakra into human flesh for the first time. Naruto gritted his teeth as he pushed the jutsu as hard as he could. There was a reason why the Kaguya were a feared bloodline as the bones were proving tough to crack.

In the end, the rasengan won out and forced the enemy ninja to collide with a tree, smashing into it with emphasis. Blood came spurting out from the mouth of Kimimaro and was also dripping from the wound created. There was even some black liquid pooling out as well.

The second level of the cursed seal receded and not by choice. Kimimaro didn't realise that whatever that jutsu that Naruto had would be that powerful. He was assured by his ultimate defence but unfortunately that wasn't the case.

Seeing the damage done, Naruto ran over to him with his hand held out and another rasengan formed in it. "I'm sorry it had to be this way but this ends now."

Kimimaro struggled to shake his head. "I have a terminal disease anyway so don't take this personally. I knew my fate was coming to an end and to have it taken by the last member of the Kaguya clan is an honour." Before he could say anymore, Kimimaro coughed up a wad of blood.

This didn't bother Naruto who was heavily leaning on one leg, confident that his cousin wasn't going to try anything. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto noticed that Sasuke put a hand in front of Konohamaru to stop the two from coming over. _Thanks Sasuke, I owe ya one._

"Naruto, I want to warn you though. You need to get stronger. There will be many people who will try and use our bloodline for their own agendas. I know you probably think Konoha wouldn't do this but you are wrong. Danzo would be a prime example of this." Kimimaro stated without knowing whether or not Naruto knew the man.

_That's the second time someone has said to be extra careful around Danzo-sensei. I guess I have to be more careful especially since Kimimaro mentioned it, I mean just how does he know sensei?_

"Unfortunately I can't be of any more help to you young Naruto about the clan and improving your abilities as that is something that you will have to do on your own. I will say I am impressed with your abilities and hope that you restore the clan to a clan with honour and pride, rather than the way the clan was previously viewed-" Kimimaro was cut off with an intense bout of coughing, given the pain he was in.

"Now, Naruto, please finish me off. I am in too much pain to continue." Kimimaro requested to his enemy.

The last Kaguya clan member nodded resolutely and shoved the rasengan into the heart of his relative.


	15. I'll do what it takes

"So, just like we spoke about Naruto-kun, this will be a very delicate procedure and I have to admit, I haven't done anything similar to this before." Naruto nodded with seriousness as Dr Yakushi spoke.

Naruto knew the pressure that was on him as one of his friend's life was on the line. He couldn't and wouldn't fuck up.

"The first place that we will start is his left pinkie toe and go from there across his toes before going to his fingers. The more experience we get doing this, the more confidence we will have when moving onto larger bones." This was all a new process for Naruto so he was hanging off every word.

"Without over thinking this situation, let's get to it." Dr. Yakushi stated to which Naruto nodded. Naruto channelled chakra the same way he did if he had to modify a bone inside his body to his hands.

Thankfully for Naruto, Dr Yakushi took all the guess work out of it for Naruto. In one hand, he was using a scalpel to cut open the skin where the bone would be and detach the bone from everything. In the other hand, he was using medical ninja to convert the chakra that Naruto was giving him and turning it into a bone before attaching it to all of the tendons and muscles. As far as Naruto was concerned, this guy was the real deal. There was a reason that he was the head of the hospital.

"Good work Naruto-kun. The more you can focus on creating the bone with your chakra, the more I can focus on attaching it to the body which is the hard part." The grey haired man stated.

Naruto, resolute in his mission to help his friend get better attempted to do just that. He viewed it as yet another chakra control exercise.

With each bone getting successfully replaced, both Naruto and Dr Yakushi were getting more and more confident in themselves. The first toe took 10 minutes, the second 8.5 and the third 8.

By the time that the doctor called for a break Naruto and the doctor, they had managed to repair the hands and feet of Lee as best as they could. The other thought running through their mind was that they wanted to be fresh for the hardest part of the surgery. With the external limbs and then the torso coming up next, Naruto wanted to make sure that he was as ready as he could be for that.

Walking out of the surgery, Naruto was instantly greeted by all of Team 9. "Yosh! Naruto-kun! Are Lee's flames of youth burning brightly?" Gai immediately questioned as he spotted the blonde haired boy.

Naruto grinned. "So far, at the moment, everything is going well" before Naruto could continue on, he was wrapped up in a large hug from a man wearing full body spandex. The Uzumaki was lucky that nothing was pressed up against him.

"Yosh Naruto-kun! I am eternally grateful for what you have done. Your flames of youth burn brightly."

"Yes, thank you Naruto-kun for doing this. You don't know how much this means to our team and most importantly Lee." Tenten stated with a big smile on her face. She was finally going to see her teammate on the road to recovery. Soon, before she knew it, Lee would be back doing mission with the team.

It was then that Naruto's smile faded. "Nothing's finalised yet. I mean me and Yakushi-sensei have only done Lee's hands and feet. It takes a fair amount of chakra and concentration. I'm just having a break to get some food and then I will be going to back into the surgery to finish the job." Naruto replied, hoping to calm the expectations that were placed on him. After all this, this was only his first rodeo.

"Naruto-kun, where do you want to go to eat then? I will happily pay for whatever you want to eat!" Gai, in usual Gai fashion asked his most recent student.

It didn't take long for Naruto to make up his mind.

**x-X-x**

Slowly, complete and utter darkness got brighter and brighter until it was white. Rock Lee opened his eyes for the first time since the surgery and a smile was on his face, desperate to hear what had happened. "Easy, Genin-san. Your body is still recovering from the surgery. I want you to sit still." Yakushi stated to which Lee nodded.

"There were a few hiccups as this was something that had never been done before but as time went on, Naruto and I got more proficient at the task and everything appears to have been done successfully." Dr. Yakushi stated which brought out a massive smile on the face of Lee/

His dream of becoming a shinobi of merit had been resurrected.

"I would even suggest that you may come out of this better than normal in the long run." When the doctor stated this, Lee looked on with curiosity brimming from his eyes. "Naruto-kun did not just replace your bones with healthy bones of your average teenage male. He replaced them with the same ones that are inside his body. Having the Kaguya bones will mean that your body will be able to sustain more muscle and suffer less health related issues that come with that. It will also mean that you are more durable as well as be able to apply more force into hits as a taijutsu user."

Rock Lee was blown away by this. He knew that he had a disadvantage of not being able to use chakra but hopefully with this, he would be able to become a truly splendid ninja just like Gai-sensei!

Before he could do that though, there was one person that he needed to thank. That person was Naruto. "Thank you Naruto-kun from the bottom of my heat, my flames of youth are eternally in your debt." Lee stated whilst bowing as much as his current situation allowed him to.

"Hey, don't worry about it Lee. I'm happy to help out my friends. Just make sure that you put in extra hard work now that you have this second chance." Naruto said, fully knowing what type of reaction this would garner from the genin.

The eyes of Neji and Tenten widened in horror; they too knew what this meant and it was something that they were not all too keen about.

"Yosh! Naruto-kun, I will do that and if I cannot, I will do 20 laps around the village with one foot tied to my back and if I cannot do that, my hands will not leave the bar until I do 1000 chin ups!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

Naruto saw what would come next and thought he could handle it. He knew about the sunset boulevard genjutsu but that wasn't what happening right now. Instead, since Lee was unable to move, the jonin managed to wiggle his way onto the bed that Lee was in and snuggle with him.

That wasn't the worst part. In the genjutsu, Gai was pointing off to a shooting star as he and Lee walked along the rainbow road, shooting above the galaxy.

"Wut… I don't even." Naruto struggled to utter as the words wouldn't come out.

"Curse you Naruto!" Tenten said but the anger wasn't in her voice. It was far from that; it was the opposite as she watched her teammate and good friend get healed. Naruto sure had changed over the past few years and as far as she was concerned, it was definitely for the better.

Looking back at him… _Yeah, it was definitely for the better._

**x-X-x**

It was back to the training ground for Naruto as he had to improve his abilities as a shinobi. From his fight with Kimimaro, Naruto knew just how far he had to go to become a competent shinobi. Naruto was only just getting to the point where he was financially secure and that taste was making him thirsty. That thirst for money was ever present and Naruto's motives for becoming a strong shinobi hadn't changed in the past year.

That coupled in with the chance to become the hokage and also making the Kaguya clan as famous as the Hozuki, Senju and Uchiha clan once were in their heydays meant that Naruto's focus was as clear as ever.

He was going to become a legend.

Already, Naruto had an idea of what he could to improve himself as a shinobi outside of just refining the training that he had already undertaken.

"Finally, it's taken some time to get in touch with you since you have been a busy guy recently." An unknown person said, completely blindsiding Naruto with his appearance. _Whoever this guy is, he sure is good._

_Ahh that's why. It's Jiraiya. _To be honest, Naruto didn't know what to think as Jiraiya was Konoha's strongest ninja now that the third Hokage had passed away. On the other hand, this person was the same one that was supposed to be his godfather according to what Kakashi had told him and yet, in his 14 years of life, Naruto had never seen the man before.

"So, you're Jiraiya, what would the strongest shinobi in the entire village want with a random teenager." Naruto questioned, getting straight to the point. He also wasn't sure whether or not Jiraiya knew if he knew just the relationship between the two was.

"I am not just Jiraiya!" As he said this, Naruto watched as a plume of smoke appeared and Jiraiya reappeared on top of a frog, "I am the legendary Toad Sannin, super pervert extraordinaire. Men envy me and women want to be with me but most of all, everyone wants to be me!" Jiraiya enthusiastically stated as he did his whole song and dance routine.

"Again, as I stated, why are you specifically here and interested in someone so far beneath your stature." The blonde haired chunin questioned, fairly confident Jiraiya didn't know that he knew the truth.

"Aww man, he didn't even acknowledge it gama!" Jiraiya pouted as he comfortingly rubbed the head of the toad he was standing on.

"I goals to reach. I don't care if you're Jiraiya of the Sannin or not. I've insulted the Daimyo to his face so don't misunderstand me when I say this. If you do not have a reason for being here then can you politely fuck off." Naruto emphatically said whilst staring directly at Jiraiya.

_Fuck me sideways this kid has all of the best and worst traits from Kushina and Minato combined. With that determination I can see, I can just tell that this kid is going to become a monster very soon! That and including the skills that he showed at the exam, fuck me what are they feeding these kids!? _Jiraiya thought to himself in shock. He thought that Konohamaru was good but there was the nagging thought that the Kyubi was helping him a fair bit in giving the boy an unfair advantage, Naruto though, he didn't have anything like that at all.

Almost instantly, Jiraiya dropped from the toad which summoned itself and removed the kabuki makeup he had going on. "Alllrightyyy then… jeez tough crowd. And I thought that the first thing that would come out of your mouth would be a request for me to train you."

Naruto was confused when he heard this statement. "Why would I ask you for training? I am already getting training from multiple people which is hard enough to balance."

"Oh yea, well who are your teachers, I am sure that there are areas in which I could teach you more about."

_Ahh so that's his angle, he wants to be my sensei. I suppose it can't hurt having one more sensei. I won't let him in on my personal life though. He hasn't earnt that yet._

"Alright then. I've got Asuma-sensei and Kakashi-sensei to teach me ninjutsu, Gai-sensei teaching me Taijutsu at the moment, what can you offer me?"

_He didn't mention Danzo. It seems as if Naruto knows that that association may have potential negative consequences. That means that he still hasn't been converted into a root shinobi! There's time for me to properly become a godfather again!_

"I could offer you a lot of things considering the fact that I am the premier seal master in Konoha's and also I am the katon user here as well."

Whilst this all did sound good, Naruto wasn't so sure. Sure, learning seals would be good but it wouldn't help him that much in the long term as he needed to get strong quickly. If he was going to be in the running, he couldn't go back to learning the basics of a new skillset. He needed to expand on the skills that he already had cause he was sure as shit that neither Konohamaru or Sasuke were going to rest on their laurels and hand the title over to him.

"I still don't see why you would want to train me!?" I mean I imagine you must have to go out of your way to come visit me." _But that's going to change soon as I will finally be moving out of my shitty apartment just beside the red light district._

Thankfully, over the past 7 months since joining team ten, Naruto had managed to save up enough money to get a deposit down on a two bedroom unit thanks to the prize money for winning the chunin exams as well as the sponsorship deal he got.

Ever since the blonde haired boy worked out what renting was, he knew that he wanted to get out of it as soon as possible. He didn't want to be paying off someone else's mortgage. Now that he had the financial means to do so, he could focus on other things.

"Well, to be honest, I see a lot of potential in you. I know that it has come to the time where Konoha's next generation must stand up and take the reins." If he was honest, it was mostly Minato's generation's job to do this but unfortunately that was not to be.

Naruto was about to challenge whether or not that was really the reason why Jiraiya was teaching him but he kept his mouth shut. "Okay, well I was planning on working on my fire manipulation and since you said that you are the best at that, could you please help me with that."

"Sure thing gaki. But you gotta call me Jiraiya-sama if you want me to teach all my super cool moves!"

"You have to earn that title. At the moment, you've done nothing to help me so why should I show you any sign of respect or affection?"

_Damn Gaki knows how to dredge up low blows._

_Damn, that felt good! I even got him to wince. Serves him right._

"Fair enough kid. Show me what you got. Show me how good your fire manipulation is."

Naruto then proceeded to show Jiraiya that he could maintain a small fire on a green leaf fairly competently. He had tried a few times with the dry leaf but so far no luck. It was during this time that there was another arrival to the training ground. That was none other than Sasuke Uchiha.

When Naruto spotted Sasuke walk over and wanted to put something to the test. He wanted to see just how much Jiraiya was true to his word.

"Hey Sasuke, Jiraiya over here wants to help out the next generation and is willing to teach you."

Sasuke was definitely surprised. It was not everyday that you got to train with one of the legendary Sannin. "Is that true Jiraiya?"

A scowl appeared on Jiraiya's face for a second before it was removed. _Damn brat has put me into a position where I can't say no without explaining why I only want to train him. _"Sure, but only if you call me Jiraiya-sensei."

"Okay then Jiraiya-sensei. What do you want me to do?" Sasuke questioned as he knew that this man in front of him was either as powerful or even more powerful than his elder brother. If he wanted to make the most of this, he would have to enact the etiquette lessons his mother taught him. He didn't want to screw this up.

"Come at me with the intent to kill. I want to see what you are made of."

Sasuke didn't need to be told twice.

**x-X-x**

Panting, Naruto grinned as he finally finished the workout that Jiraiya had put him through. It was arguably as tough as the workouts he had to endure with Gai-sensei but he wasn't complaining. Not one bit as Naruto knew that if he wanted to get to the top, he was going to have to put in the hard effort to get there.

The past week training with Jiraiya had been fun. Even Sasuke had admitted it privately. Jiraiya was a wealth of knowledge that they had both been using.

Sasuke was the one who had benefited the most from Jiraiya's tutelage.

Flash Back:

"_Okay kid, so we both know why you want to get stronger and let me tell you, I've been on countless missions with uchiha's in the past so I know how you guy's work. Now, instead of me just pointing out your weak points, I want you to tell me where you believe yours are that you need to improve on."_

_Sasuke nodded when he heard this. He wasn't sure what the difference was really and he imagined that Jiraiya could see more flaws than he could, but he would humour the man._

"_Tch. My genjutsu is nothing compared to Itachi's, my strength needs to catch up to my speed. Also, I need to fight a good kenjutsu user so I can copy their fighting style as I have only just started using my chokuto."_

"_Kid, I agree with you on everything but don't beat yourself up. My Genjutsu abilities are absolute shit compared to Itachi's. Pretty much every single ninja in the world has shit genjutsu abilities compared to him. You don't have to be good at genjutsu. You just have to be able to counter the ones that he throws at you." Sasuke's eyes widened when hearing this as he admitted only to himself that he was never really that fond of genjutsu. He was much more a fan of action and direct combat._

"_In terms of your physical conditioning, you need to improve it quite a bit. The only problem is that this one isn't going to be an easy fix. It is going to take hard work and a lot of time, coupled with the right diet._

_At the moment, you are supplementing your speed with your chakra. I could have easily put a seal on you that modifies your chakra and render you unable to use it. You would become far weaker than Naruto would be if the same seal was applied to him as you are far more reliant on your chakra. Make no mistake, there will come a time when you are unable to use your chakra and you will need to get out of a sticky situation."_

_Sasuke nodded in agreement. The other thought that was going through his mind was that if he became better without chakra, then when he used it, he would get that much stronger. A smirk appeared on his face._

"_Your kenjutsu will come with time. I'm shit when it comes to using a sword I wouldn't be much help in that area unfortunately._

"_Now, do you want me to tell you what I noticed?" Jiraiya questioned with a rare serious expression on his face. He normally didn't like kids like Sasuke as he didn't have a personality. It would be a test._

_To be perfectly honest, he didn't really want to hear it but the raven haired boy knew that if he did, he would be able to work on his weaknesses rather than neglect them. He was all in favour of short term pain if it meant that he would be able to kill that man._

"_Your ninjutsu is very good for someone of your age and rank but it also has the potential to be so much better. It's obvious that your raiton is your natural element but you're much better at using fire than you are lightning. Is this some sort of Uchiha pride where the only element is fire?"_

_Sasuke couldn't help but roll his eyes when he heard about the famous "Uchiha Pride". Sure, he and the rest of his family were proud of their abilities, as they rightfully should be and there were some exceptions where the stereotype stemmed from but if he ever heard someone mention it, he would look down on them._

"_No…" Sasuke muttered. Admitting to this wasn't one of his proudest moments. "I only found out that a month ago. My father forced me to learn the fireball as a right of passage and I never questioned it so I always thought my affinity was fire."_

"_Ehh, it's good that you have put so much effort into another discipline at such a young age. It means you are more versatile allows you to have more tricks up your sleeve for a fight." Jiraiya saw that this made Sasuke smirk. _

"_But it means that you are far behind what someone say like the Gaki over there is doing with his fire manipulation. Just to let you know, you will never be as good as the brat when it comes to fire manipulation."_

_A scowl formed. "Why are you telling me this?" It wasn't something that he wanted to hear._

_Jiraiya didn't waste a second in continuing on. "Because this will help you in the future! At the moment, the only reason Naruto and Konohamaru to a lesser extent are progressing quicker than you is because they have found their fighting style whilst you haven't. Naruto found his by his bloodline as it forces him to be a close range fighter and Konohamaru, well he got it because of his chakra pool being so large. It forced him into the role of ninjutsu juggernaut."_

"_Well, how do I find my fighting style?" Sasuke immediately responded, wanting to solve the issue as soon as possible._

"_That unfortunately is only something that you can find yourself and it is going to take time. It will naturally develop over time as you find the way you gain more experience."_

_Sasuke wasn't satisfied with that answer however. "Do you know what kind of fighting style I am leaning towards at the moment?"_

"_As much as I don't like to make the comparison, you are similar in your fighting style to a young Orochimaru. This is the real reason why I agreed to train you. I wasn't able to stop him but I can sure as hell make sure that another one doesn't come along. Yes, that's right. I am calling you out on it. Myself and others can see that you have solely your own interests at heart. Everyone can see you don't really care about the village._

_The thing that you have to realise kid is that everyone is selfish to a degree. If everyone can see that you only care about your own interests, then they will not want to help you as they don't see any benefit to their own interests."_

_When Jiraiya finished speaking, Sasuke had a lot to think about._

End Flash Back:

"Yes! Finally, the signing bonus has come into my account!" Naruto cheered when he opened the letter. Jiraiya who was waiting for Naruto so that they could go to the training ground became curious.

"Signing bonus, what was that for?" Jiraiya asked, serious for once which Naruto picked up on. _Hmm, maybe I can use Jiraiya for some advice. I mean he is mega rich with the Icha Icha franchise and all._

"Oh, because of my performance at the chunin exams, some dairy company wanted me to be their ambassador since I have the dead bone pulse and they can spin their marketing into how I got strong from drinking milk since it has calcium. It's good cause they gave me money and they gave me an unlimited supply of chocolate milk!"

A calculating gaze appeared on the face of Jiraiya. "I See. You do realise that they are only sponsoring you right is because they make more money off you then they pay you right?"

"Yeah, I know. But I thought it would be best to capitalize off the fame that came from winning the chunin exams. I mean, at the moment, before the fight, I was maybe known to a few ninjas but now I am known to pretty much everyone in the world. When the hype of the chunin exams dies down, I will just go back to being known by shinobi. I wanted to get some quick, easy money when the civilians know who I am." Naruto replied to Jiraiya, showing his train of thought.

"Okay, just checking. I agree that you made your move at the right time. So why did you take the deal in the first place. I mean, wouldn't that just put an extra target on your back which as a chunin you don't need?" Jiraiya questioned as they jumped along the roofs towards the training ground.

"I never wanted to become a ninja originally. The only way I can achieve my goal since I am an orphan with no financial backing was to become a ninja as it was free entry into the academy as long as you passed." When he heard this, Jiraiya felt like a piece of shit. He knew that he wanted to instil the work ethic that came from a poor background but he thought he put more money away so that Naruto wouldn't be forced into doing what he wanted. The again, did Sarutobi force Naruto into becoming a shinobi? He did not know the answer to that question.

Now that he had time to understand the true difference between being a shinobi and a civilian, Naruto did not regret his decision one bit.

"I see. So what are your goals then Naruto?" Jiraiya questioned in a quiet voice. He knew he had fucked up when it came to raising Naruto but he didn't know just how much of a screw up he had been.

"My goal is to become filthy rich to the point where I can live my life however I want to without having any financial worries for the rest of my life. That and protect the people that I care about."

_This kid has a good head on his shoulders. I can definitely see why Danzo suggested to have the three kids fight it out for the title of Hokage. In reality, the only one who has the potential to take that position is Naruto. Konohamaru definitely has the potential but he isn't mentally ready yet to have that much pressure put on him. That including the fact that he doesn't have control of the Kyubi is a serious hindrance. Sasuke on the other hand can't be fully trusted with that much power… which leaves Naruto._

_He never wanted to make Naruto into a root soldier. He wants to use Naruto as a political figurehead!_

"Well if you ever want financial advice, feel free to ask me about that as I am not only a awesome shinobi, but my bank account has a few zero's in it!"

"Actually I will. What do you reckon I should do to maximize earnings?"

Jiraiya looked down at Naruto for a moment. He could tell that this boy was dead serious. It was good to see that the Gaki had his future already planned out.

"What sort of targets are you trying to hit? Is this a short term investment or a long term one?"

"Well I was planning on putting it into a house. So I guess long term?" Naruto queried. Now that he was finally getting to a point where he had some money to play with, he wasn't entirely sure what to do with it and a house seemed like a good enough idea.

"If you want to make large amounts of money, I wouldn't recommend putting it into a house. Generally speaking, investing in property is for a small but safe return. Investing in businesses is a lot more high risk, high reward. Also, you shouldn't really invest in a house unless you plan on owning it for at least 20 years. They are a seriously long term investment."

"Hmm…" Naruto said, more so to himself than anyone else as he pondered what Jiraiya had told him. Admittedly, he didn't want to wait that long to get his return.

"Frankly. If you want to make the most money as quickly as possible, what you should do not focus on trying to make money directly. I know you're in the running for the hokage position since I turned it down when they offered it to me." This was news to Naruto as his eyes widened. "From a financial perspective, you should devote all of your time into getting the hokage title as there is a significant salary involved in being the hokage."

Naruto's eyes widened. He certainly didn't know this. "And if I want to keep the job and continue earning the money, then I have to do good by Konoha and have the village's best interests at heart. Obviously, I would want to do the best job that I could anyway but this is just extra motivation."

"Correct Gaki. So what you should focus on, is getting that position whilst putting as much money as you can into a high interest savings account. If you get the position, you will be swamped during the beginning and won't have time to spend your money so that you can save even more."

"That way, you can save a ton of money and only really invest in what you think will work." Naruto nodded when he heard this from Jiraiya. Sure, he may have been a shit godfather, but at least he knew his money and that was all Naruto cared about.


	16. Until I touch the sky

"Now, are there any more matters that need to be brought to my attention?" Mei questioned as she just finished her first conversation with the new Daimyo who had taken power. They had just finalized the agreement on the prices for each rank of a mission. It had been a long day as the village needed it but it was something that was only going to continue.

"Yes. Our intelligence is now up and running and it has come to their attention that Konoha has their hands on a member of the Kaguya clan who is quite skilled Mizukage-sama." Ao stated with a frown on his face. He had no idea how the leaf village managed to get their hands on the prized bloodline but he didn't like it at all.

"Tell me more about this shinobi Ao." Mei stated with an inquisitive look on her face.

"Hai. His name is Naruto-Uzumaki. He is a high B-ranked shinobi in the bingo book placed there by Sunagakure. He is known for having the dead bone pulse and also killing the jinchuuriki of the one tail although it has to be noted, the jinchuuriki was not in any stages of his transformation."

Seeing barely visible nod from his Kage, Ao continued on. "He is proficient in the use of his bloodline, has shown that he is proficient in katon ninjutsu for his age but his best skill at the moment is that he fast, not for his age but fast in general. I would say that his speed is on that of a low ranking jonin already."

"What about him as a person? Are there any personality traits that we can exploit?" It was the most obvious thing in the world to the Hunter Nin Commander that Mei wanted this shinobi under her command. One of Kirigakure's more powerful bloodlines that was thought to be extinct was now in the hands of another, more powerful village.

_Damn Yagura deciding that all bloodline users should be extinct. If it wasn't for that, Kiri would be a much more stable and more importantly, stable country._

"From what our spies in Konoha have managed to gather on him, the boy is an orphan and interestingly enough, has a sponsorship deal with a dairy company after they saw what had happened during the chunin exams. This would point towards that the child is motivated by financial gain. I assume our best way or tempting to the village would be to use money. Also, here have a look at this photo. I think his appearance is quite familiar."

At this, Ao handed Mei the dossier that had the information on Naruto. Two seconds later and her eyes widened to near comical proportions. "Are you sure this is him?" Mei questioned to which Ao merely nodded.

Mei was honestly shocked. You didn't need the Byakugan that was inside the head of Ao to be able to see just who this boy was a carbon copy of. "To think that he had a kid… Do you know who the mother was?"

The elder ninja frowned. "No, outside of his last name being Uzumaki, we have no reports as to who his mother is."

_So that would point towards Minato being the one who had the dormant bloodline in him. I can't imagine what kind of monster he would have been had he managed to activate it. Maybe that was how the Hiraishin worked, the toll on his body must have been immense so the Kaguya DNA strengthened his body to be able to handle it._

Ao, I have a mission for you, Chojuro and Suigetsu." Mei said as her mind a thousand thoughts going through it. "I have known about this for a while but have had more pressing concerns. With this new information of the Kaguya clan representative, this mission has become one of our highest priorities.

Raiga Kurosaki has been spotted working around the Katabami gold mines in the land of rivers. I imagine he is collecting the gold to make money. Your mission has to objectives. The first is to kill Raiga and obtain the thunder fangs that he possesses. Given Mangetsu's affinity with the blades, Suigetsu I believe will be the right person to wield them." Ao didn't necessarily agree with that opinion of the Mizukage. He had been on the receiving end of her temper far too many times and he didn't want to be on it again.

"The second half of your mission is to obtain the gold that Raiga is hording and use it to persuade the loyalty of the Kaguya boy. Whatever is left remaining will go into the village funds." Ao nodded in comprehension.

"And if he doesn't comply, we will kidnap him so that when he is older, when can impregnate fertile women with his DNA." Ao added on top of what Mei said, thinking that it was the right choice to make on the field. The power of the dead bone pulse was simply far too strong in the hands of another village. It was also theirs, not any other village's property.

_Older, impregnate fertile women…_

"Shut up Ao or I will kill you" Mei hissed as killing intent flooded the room.

**x-X-x**

Naruto jogged to the tower. It was his first mission in three days and he was eager to find out what it was. He hoped it was a high ranked one. Ever since he had been informed of the Hokage acceleration program, the lowest ranked missions Naruto had been going on were B-ranked missions. He was keen to keep it that way.

Walking into the Hokage's office, Naruto was not surprised to see Danzo-sensei. The other two people in the room he definitely was surprised to see. "Asuma-sensei!" Naruto greeted with enthusiasm. He hadn't seen his sensei in ages and he was definitely glad to see the man.

"How's it going kiddo?" The bearded man questioned to his student with a smile on his face. He too was happy to see one of his students.

"I'm here to kick some ass and chew bubble gum and I'm all out of gum."

"You three have a mission waiting for you." Danzo, the ever so formal man stated to which Naruto immediately straightened up. He still had his perfect mission record to maintain as well.

"Inoichi, you will be in charge of this mission, given the sensitivity of the mission. Asuma, you will be the muscle." The interim Hokage stated to which both of them nodded.

"Hey Danzo-sensei, what's my role on this mission?"

"Fodder." Chuckles ensued.

_Didn't know Danzo was capable of making jokes…_

"You two will explain to Naruto what the mission is on the way to your destination point. This is a very important mission, so there will be no failure. Am I clear?" Danzo questioned although he didn't expect an answer.

All three ninjas left the room after bidding farewell.

"Naruto, you will need to pack for at most 2 weeks' worth of supplies. This mission is sensitive so we will discuss this on the road." The blonde chunin didn't hesitate and nodded. When he got the all clear, Naruto immediately headed off towards home.

_I wonder what this mission could be. Surely, if it was a heavy combat mission, Inoichi wouldn't be in it and I don't think that I would be up to that level since I am not a jonin like the others._

_This must have something to do with Inoichi's skill set. I guess that means that Asuma-sensei is the muscle and I'm the tiny muscle._

When Naruto arrived back at the gates, with his backpack in check, Naruto noticed an addition to the group and from what he could tell by Asuma, this wasn't a someone he wanted to associate with.

"Are we ready?" the blonde chunin questioned to which they nodded. Before Naruto took another step towards this mission, Asuma moved very fast. Naruto could barely keep up with his sensei as he watched the man smash his trench knife right into the base of the civilian's skull.

"I've wanted to do that for a while." Asuma said as he saw the stunned reaction on the face of Naruto. As his student was staring with a gaping expression, Asuma hoisted the man over his shoulder.

"Right, this mission is very sensitive so let's make haste." Inoichi commanded to which both Asuma and Naruto nodded their heads.

As the trio of ninjas raced through the trees, Naruto finally felt as if it was time to ask the big question. "So what is this mission that we are doing?"

Inoichi spoke up. "This is an S-ranked mission." The second that these words ran through the mind of Naruto, the boy gulped. His blood ran dry. The last time he had been on an S-ranked mission was the chunin exams.

"Konoha is making a military move in the tumultuous climate that is wave country. I am not sure if you are aware or not, but there is a civilian businessman who is ruling the country through hiring ninjas to do his dirty work. He pays off the daimyo so he has free reign to do undertake his narcotics and slave trafficking.

"What Konoha will be doing is killing Gato, all of his accomplices and also killing the wave country Daimyo and instilling the man that Asuma is carrying as the new Daimyo.

_That must be the reason why Asuma dislikes the guy that he is carrying! He must have been the person who lied on that mission which got Shikamaru killed! _Naruto had a newfound respect for the professionalism on display by his sensei. He knew that if he was in that position, then there was no doubt in his mind that his personal feelings would take over.

"So what advantage is it that we are getting out of this? I mean I know that we wouldn't be doing this out of the kindness of our hearts but the only thing I can think of that we would be getting out of this would be some sort of territorial advantage against Kirigakure." Naruto thought out loud, hoping someone would fill him in.

"It's actually Kumogakure. At this point in time, Kirigakure is not a threat. They are just coming out of the civil war and are in even less of a position to exert financial muscle. Kumogakure on the other hand are arguably the strongest nation including us. They are far more militaristic compared to us and since we got hit hard by the invasion, we aren't in a strong position.

If Kumo did the same thing that we are doing to Wave, then they would have a massive advantage over us if a war ever broke out. It would allow them to attack from two fronts and scissor our forces on that side of the nation. Konoha cannot allow this to happen under any circumstance which is why Inoichi comes in." Asuma informed his student who nodded, understanding now why this mission was S-ranked. Whilst he loved to test himself. Naruto was confident that he wouldn't put up much of a fight against someone of that ilk. He had gotten trounced by Gai and Jiraiya recently so he knew what it took to be at that level.

"Gato still has Zabuza Momochi under his payroll so you should definitely expect combat.

"Oh don't you worry Ichoichi-senpai. I've been looking forward to this for a long ass time."

The blonde man shook his head. "Anyway, I have been tasked with implanting thoughts and suggestions into the mind of this man here as we make him the daimyo. I won't be brainwashing but I will be making it so that whenever he does anything that is in the best interests of Konoha, he will get a release of dopamine and serotonin. When he does anything that is negative to Konoha, he will get massive withdrawals of those hormones."

"Ibiki has also spoken to the man heavily about the reason why he is getting released from prison so early for committing a federal crime. He knows he has a role to play and if we believe that he is not acting in Konoha's best interests, then we will take appropriate measures."

_Ibiki, that's the guy who ran the first test of the chunin exams._ It suddenly dawned on Naruto that he was finally entering the big leagues. Initially he thought of his sensei as just Asuma-sensei. Now he was coming to realise that the man was an Elite Jonin and was one of the top ten strongest ninjas that Konoha had to offer. What was even more staggering was that he wasn't even the leader on this mission. It was the head of the Torture and Interrogation Department as well as the head of the Psych ward of the hospital. This only included his duties as a clan head.

It was a big step up from what he was doing earlier.

**x-X-x**

The trip was much shorter the second time around for Asuma and once they got past the river, Asuma dropped Tazuna on the ground. This was enough that when the man collided with the ground.

"Ugh… What happened?" Tazuna mumbled to himself as his eyes groggily opened up. Before he could even register what was going on, a jutsu was cast on him. His pupils rolled into the back of his head and Naruto had to support his bodyweight whilst Inoichi did this thing.

It was a long and tedious process what Inoichi was doing and it finally took 45 minutes for everything to be completed. As Inoichi exited the mind of Tazuna, the man started to come into the land of consciousness.

"Tazuna. Just as we agreed. We are taking you out of prison and taking you back home to your family." Inoichi stated as much like Asuma, he was not at all fond of the man.

The man instantly sobered up and sombrely looked down at the ground, knowing what was about to take place.

"Yes. I know."

"Don't worry, you will get to see Tsunami and Inari shortly. You have to remember though that you are unable to tell them what happened. You must tell them that you have been held captive and tortured by Gato for the past six months. You finally got out of there and made your way to Konoha to get our help which we are doing pro bono. "

It was not lost on Naruto just how much once this story got out how much it would look good for Konoha. _History was always written by the victor._

With that said, Team Inoichi travelled on towards their mission.

**x-X-x**

As Naruto was on his mission, one individual in particular was training their ass off. That person was Temari Sabaku. The first was to kill the person who murdered her little brother Gaara. With that being Naruto Uzumaki, that meant that Temari had her work cut out for her as she knew that Naruto was a promising shinobi who was only going to get even stronger.

From what she had borne witness to and correlated with the reports, Naruto Uzumaki was proficient in Katon Release. Considering her goal was to kill Naruto, and she lived in a desert and had a wind affinity, it meant she was up shit creak without a paddle when it came to ninjutsu.

That combined with the fact Naruto was extremely capable in taijutsu with his bloodline and all, it meant that she would have to rely on genjutsu out of the big three. Temari wouldn't give up on her wind ninjutsu or scrimp on her taijutsu training as she knew that they would have to top notch to combat against Naruto.

The other goal that Temari planned to accomplish was eradicate all the other tailed beasts. She didn't want any child to have to go through the same torment and struggles that the village put her younger brother through. It was never his fault; it was the system that he grew up in!

The only way Temari knew how to do this was to become the first female Kazekage. This was so that no child had to go through the same struggles that Gaara had gone through. Then and only then would she have the power to achieve what she need

With Baki leading as the interim Kazekage until a long term decision was made which was approved by the council and the Daimyo, Temari knew that she had time on her hands.

**x-X-x**

**x-X-x**

_That boy, he definitely looks like Minato. They look to dissimilar to one another. That child has no doubt has the potential to be a damn good shinobi. The question is, will he ever be at that same level as Minato?_

Onoki was never as bad as the people who he managed on a day to day basis. He didn't share the same opinion as most Iwa civilians and shinobi in that Minato Namikaze was death incarnate. The man just so happened to be a very good shinobi on the other side.

"Tsuchikage-sama. You have a visitor. It is the daimyo." His assistant stated to which he nodded. He knew that this meeting was going to take place, he just had no idea what it was going to be about.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting Daimyo-sama?" Onoki questioned with a small smile on his face.

"We have important matters of grave importance to discuss. Konoha is finally weak. They have just had the invasion dealt by the hands of Sunagakure and Otogakure lead by Orochimaru. This is now the ideal position for the land of earth to strike and gain an advantage."

"Right now would be a good time to strike but you would still have to consider the fact that they have two of the Sannin, Kakashi Hatake and Might Gai who is proficient with the eight gates. This is not to mention all of the bloodlines that they have at their disposal and you also have to consider that they have the Kyubi at their disposal." Onoki countered. Whilst he wouldn't mind taking Konoha down a peg or two, there were a lot of things to consider when war was on the table.

"Speaking of bloodlines… have you heard that Konoha now has a new bloodline at their disposal?"

_I see. So this is what he really wants to talk about. No doubt one of his advisors showed him the bingo book entry that Sunagakure put up on Naruto and he must have noticed that he looks very damn similar to Minato._

"Yes I did hear about that. From what I remember hearing, the boy won the most recent chunin exams hosted in Konoha. What is your point?" Onoki questioned, already knowing where this was going but not wanting to take any part in the future conversation.

This only further served to annoy the most politically powerful man in the land of earth. "So you do know about him!" The Earth Daimyo questioned, barely holding himself from getting out of his seat and standing up.

Frustrated because he knew exactly where this conversation was going, Onoki let out his real feelings on the matter at hand. "Of course I know who the brat is! It would take a retard to not be able to take one look at the boy and not be able to tell who his father is!"

Incensed at what he was hearing, Kosuke stood up, hands planted down on the table in front of him. "Then why the hell haven't you done anything about getting rid of the spawn of that man!?"

Onoki didn't waste any time as he stood up as well. "Because I don't want to start another fucking world war! If we killed the boy, Konoha would no doubt go to war and despite their weakened state; they would put up a decent enough fight that Kumo would be able to take us down with relative ease!" Anger was clearly evident on the old man's face and it only further served to make his nose even more pronounced.

Kosuke momentarily faltered before his bluster returned. "I will give you the full backing of my samurai force if it comes to that."

The second that he heard this, Onoki, for a second reconsidered his options. He knew that Kosuke's samurai force was a considerable amount of troops that would no doubt aid the fight. That would only answer one question. The other, more important one was one that he simply didn't want to go to war. The amount of innocent deaths that it would cause was not something that he would like on his conscience if he was honest with himself.

"And you would send thousands of loyal, innocent Iwa shinobi to their potential deaths just for the sake of killing one boy? A boy might I add that has absolutely no connection whatsoever outside of his genealogy. For Christ sake's, the boy was born on the day his father died."

The normally reserved daimyo exploded with rage as he heard the words come from the mouth of the Tsuchikage. "Does that bring both of my sons back to life!? No it doesn't does it!? I thought you of all people would be able to see this. Didn't the yellow butcher kill your first bon son who was going to take over from you once you retire?"

"I don't care if you are the daimyo or not, don't you ever think about bringing up his name again. I'll be damned the consequences and kill you myself if you bring up his memory in front of me in that light." A snarl came out of the mouth of Onoki as he said this along with his nostrils flaring.

This served to calm down Kosuke. Most people would calm down if the threat of death was coming directly at them. "I see we are at an impasse Tsuchikage. Regardless of your views on this, I am going to order to go to kill the wretched Namikaze spawn and if that brings war upon us then so be it."

Onoki raised an eyebrow, judging the man in front of him. "And if I don't do that?"

"Well what would the populace of Iwagakure think if all of the funding was sent the way of Sunagakure because you wouldn't accept a mission to kill the son of the man who butchered thousands of families." A smirk appeared on the face of Kosuke, knowing that he had won the fight the two were having.

Onoki didn't need to be told that it was a rhetorical question. He knew exactly what would happen if he didn't comply with the demands of the earth daimyo. There would be mutiny in the streets in a matter of hours and a civil war following shortly after.

"Fine…" Onoki said through gritted teeth.

A smile appeared on a face that it had no right to be on. "I'm glad that we could come to an agreement Onoki. I will be cutting our meeting short as I have some other business that I must attend to." Kosuke said before turning around and leaving the room.

**x-X-x**

Unlike the last time, Asuma and his team did not have to cross the river by boat. Instead, since all shinobi were competent, trip was much shorter as they used chakra manipulation. "Naruto, we will be splitting up here. You're going to be taking Tazuna here to his family and protect him until myself and Asuma to return. We will be taking out the daimyo and it needs to be done with no traces back to Konoha."

Naruto knew that stealth was not in his current skillset so he was not annoyed by the comment. "When we get back to Tazuna's house, we will be going to the daimyo's court and getting rid of the dead weight." Inoichi stated to which the blonde haired chunin nodded.

"Right, Tazuna, if you would lead the way to your place please. I assure you, I will be capable of protecting you."

"All right. To be honest though, you look like kind of a brat" The irritated man grumbled. He was not at all happy with the situation that he was in but there was little to nothing that he could do to change that. He knew that he had made mistakes in the past that had caused the death of an innocent child and this was his price.

There was not a day that went by that he didn't regret what he did and he wished that he could go back and plead his case to the hokage. Now that he had time to think about it, he was confident that Konoha would have made it an A-ranked mission with payment to come later.

Now, because of that, he had indirectly got a kid murdered. The prison time didn't matter as far as he was concerned.

"We will let the success of this mission decide that then." Naruto briefly replied with a frown of annoyance on his face. He could immediately tell that this was not going to be the best of missions.

It was a half an hour trip at civilian pace to the home of Tazuna and Naruto thought that he given the mission at hand, there was a chance he could make a quick buck. "So Tazuna, if you were a betting man, what would you reckon that once everything settles down, will take off?"

It was a bit of an odd question, he had to admit but Tazuna was didn't see any harm in answering it. He didn't believe that Naruto would be able to make anything off of it. "The transport industry, I am sure of it. With Gato getting taken care of, Wave country won't let the chance of having someone else come in and make the same power plays. With having a state owned transport network, it will mean that our future is safe."

Naruto nodded in contemplation. "So how would you go about creating that transport company? Not to be an arsehole or anything but wave isn't the most financially prosperous place to be living."

Tazuna had to admit to himself, he was surprised that the boy was taking this much of an interest in the topic. "That is true but one of the conditions of what is going on is that the infrastructure that Gato has will now become our own as well as the money. The company will probably do something similar to an IPO to generate funds but that will only be to people who are know about it and we will really only release it to people of wave so that it stays in the country."

It definitely helped that Naruto had waited until Tazuna had started drinking his bottle of rum straight from the lid before he started asking these questions. What Naruto didn't know was that Inoichi had setup a few suggestions in the mind of Tazuna so that he is more willing to divulge information to Konoha ninjas.

Despite the words of Jiraiya echoing in his mind, Naruto was confident that he was looking at a deal that was low risk, high reward. They were opportunities that came by often and the blonde was sure that this was going to make money.

The only question was how much money did he want to invest? Did he want to put all of his eggs in one basket or have some money left over just in case this venture failed? _Well I am going to be getting paid an S-rank mission salary for this mission alone. That's enough for me to live off comfortably for a month in my small apartment. Also, now that I am going on higher ranking missions more often, it will be much easier to save money here on out and this opportunity won't come up again._

_But then again, do I really want to give up all of the money that I have spent so much effort in trying to save on a venture that might possibly result in losing all of my savings? I started from the absolute bottom and all that can change in an instant if I go on a mission and come back permanently crippled. I would have nothing to live off and would have to rely on Jiraiya (if he helped out that is). With all the effort I have put in, having to rely on someone else would be a massive kick in the nuts._

_No matter what happens, if I don't make a decision, I am constantly going to be thinking about the other option and the proctor of the chunin exams was right. Sometimes you have to make decisions without knowing all the information or any at all._

"I guess I will do it." Naruto muttered to himself which made Tazuna look at him funny before going back to his drink, wondering how he was going to tell his family about what had happened these past 7 and half months.

**x-X-x**

_Knock knock_

Carefully, when she heard that noise, Tsunami made her way to one of the nearby windows and tried to see who it was that was outside the front of her house. All she could see was that it was some blonde haired teenager. If he was here for a negative reason, she wasn't confident that she would be able to defend herself against him and protect Inari.

The mother of one walked into the kitchen and grabbed one of her knifes just in case. "What do you want?" She questioned as she headed back over to the door.

"Tsunami, it's me!" Tazuna shouted with a big grin on his face. He knew that she couldn't see it but judging from the rushed footsteps, she knew it was on his face.

The peephole in the door revealed exactly what the woman hoped it would. It was her father along with that blonde haired boy that she noticed earlier. Immediately afterwards, the door flung open and tsunami rushed into the embrace of her father. Tears fell down her face, cheek muscles that she never knew she had been hurting from smiling so much.

"I'm so glad you managed to get back!" Tsunami elatedly shouted. She didn't even let her father explain himself before she spoke up again. "You have to tell me everything that happened. I'm sure that this is an interesting story." Tsunami said as she noticed that there appeared to be no lasting damage to her father except that he had lost a fair amount of weight.

_Ain't that the truth _Tazuna sighed mentally to himself. "Well how about we go inside and you get Inari so that I can tell you what happened." Tazuna stated to which the woman nodded immediately. She knew that Inari would be very happy to see him. She was hopeful that this would break him out of his funk.

"Inari, come down stairs please, there is someone that is very excited to see you!" The mother of one called out and half a minute later, a small boy slowly, almost methodically came down the stairs. The second that his young eyes caught side of his grandfather, they widened.

"Grandpa!" Inari shouted as a big grin crossed his face; the first one that Tsunami had seen in a long time. Immediately, the pace increased as the ten year old rushed down the stairs and launched his body into the waiting arms.

"Where have you been grandpa?" Much like his mother earlier, tears were streaming down his face as he said this.

Tazuna grinned. He was beyond happy that he got to see this smile once more. He didn't care all that much what Konoha would make him do, the fact that they allowed him to leave prison early to see his grandson made him not care. "Well how about we sit down and me and my friend over can tell you two what happened."

It was at this point that Naruto made himself known, pushing feelings of jealousy to the back of his mind as they wouldn't do any good.

"Who's that guy grandpa?" The innocence of Inari questioned, wondering how he was connected to his grandfather.

Tazuna grin was at full force. "This guy here Inari-kun is one of the super shinobi who's going to help wave country get freed from Gato!"

"Whatever, come on, let's hear your story gramps." Inari said with a frown on his face that Naruto immediately caught. He wasn't entirely sure what it was for but he could tell that the boy disliked him.

"Well okay then." Tazuna said as the four of them made themselves comfortable on the couches. "When I set out to make it to Konoha, I got ambushed by some of the men that Gato employed. they hurt me a fair bit and then kept me locked up in prison for a while. I won't say what happened because it was super bad." Tazuna explained in a sombre tone of voice.

There was a look of horror on the face of Tsunami as she could only imagine what happened to her father. After what had happened to Kaiza, she didn't want to know what had taken place. Inari meanwhile closed his eyes and clenched his fists in utter rage.

"I spent four months in prison living of very little food which is how I lost so much weight." Tazuna didn't have to lie for this one as it was indeed true. His family happened to think that it was the prison that Gato had, not the Konoha penitentiary. "During this time, I bided my time and calculated all of the shifts of the guards and when they were sloppy, I used a tool that I had made to grab the keys that the guards left there to torment me with. Once I got them, despite my handcuffs, I used my super intelligence and escaped!"

"That's so cool grandpa!" Inari enthused who was completely engaged in his idol's story Tsunami didn't share the same opinion on the story as she knew the man and found a flaw or two in the story. She didn't care that much as he was here now and that was all that mattered.

"But if you were tortured and held in prison, how are you fine now with no injuries?" Tsunami, questioned with concern.

Tazuna wasn't sure what to say here since he was a civilian and he knew that Tsunami wouldn't buy the story that a doctor would be able to do this. Instead he turned to Naruto, hoping the teenager would help him out.

"Medical ninjutsu. It is where a shinobi specializes in medicinal practices focuses their chakra and can repair wounds. Depending on the proficiency of the person, anything is possible from repairing a punctured lung to fixing a broken bone or to merely healing a minor flesh wound. Tazuna-san here was lucky enough that as he was escaping Gato, he managed to run into the chief of staff at the hospital who was coming back from a seminar in a coastal town in fire country." Naruto explained to the three civilians who looked gracious for the explanation.

"Right, so as Naruto-san here said, that super medical ninja guy fixed me up as I told him the story of what was happening in wave and he said that he would speak to the Hokage for me. Once that was settled, they agreed to send a team of super ninjas to help stabilize our country and once we were on our feet, they would accept a slightly increased payment."

"Unfortunately, the invasion of Sunagakure and Otogakure happened during the chunin exams and as bad as it is to say, we had to sort our own internal affairs before we could offer to help other places as much as we would like to. Once everything calmed down in Konoha, this mission was back on the cards." Naruto said finishing off the story that he and Tazuna had fabricated.

"It won't work! You might as well just give up now!" Inari said with a frown on his still growing face. "No matter how hard you try; you're never going to defeat Gato." Inari said, not wanting to lose the grandfather that he had only just recently had returned to him.

With the boy looking at him expecting a response, Naruto merely eyed Tsunami quickly to notice that she had a look of concern on her face as well as frustration. Naruto liked to think that this was because it had been going on for a while. "That is not the correct attitude to have." The blonde merely stated, not wanting to piss off a client by insulting his grandchild.

To say that Inari was livid was an understatement. If there was one thing that kids hated more than anything, it was being seen but not heard by adults. The kid didn't like what he heard from Naruto. "You seem to have this confidence that you are going to be the hero that this place needs. Well heroes don't exist! No matter how confident you are, you're going to die. You're no match for Gato's men! When the weak go up against the strong, they die!"

Naruto was annoyed at the comment. He really wanted to say something but he didn't want to piss off the client. The chunin knew just how crucial this mission was to Konoha's future in case war broke out. "Please stop talking kid. You don't know what you're talking about. I am not like you."

"I'd hate to be like you! You don't know anything about our country and yet you think you are the answer! What the hell do you know about me? You come from a rich place like Konoha, you don't know what suffering is living in place which has ninjas to protect you from evil like Gato!"

Killing intent flooded the room and both Tazuna and Tsunami were glued to their seats. Inari was doing an admirable effort in not passing out as he was on the verge of hyperventilating. "Let me make a few things clear little boy. The only reason you are not on the ground clenching your broken jaw is because this is a very important mission.

When you have a scraped knee, you go cry to your grandfather about whatever inane and trivial scrape you got after falling over and he cleans the injury, puts a Band-Aid on it and wipes away your tears right. Just like how your mother is there to comfort you when you get bullied by the other kids; your mum consoles you and tells you that everything is going to be alright and she helps you get your confidence back right?"

The only thing Inari could do was nod.

"Well you had a lot more of a head start on life compared to a lot of other children, myself included. I am an orphan. Unlike you where you get to whine like a little bitch until your mum or grandfather fixes whatever issue you have, I had to stop crying like a little baby and get back up on my feet.

I started from absolute nothing and worked damn hard to get to the point where I am in my life. I am not going to let some midget with a walking stick dictate to me how to live my life. In all honesty, people who complain about their situation but don't do anything to solve it are the worst people in the world.

Look at your grandfather. He is at least trying to do something to make sure that you have a better childhood. Are you really going to insult what he is trying to do for you and your family?"

Inari was unable to handle the question and instead chose to get out of the chair and run to the safe haven that was his bedroom.

As Naruto calmed down, the killing intent dissipated. "I am sorry for what I said to Inari just then. I should be better than responding to insults from children. I believe it would be best if I leave for a while. I will be nearby and alert if you need me however." Naruto stated before he shun-shined out of the room. He didn't wait for a response.

**x-X-x**

The next morning, Naruto spotted Inoichi and Asuma-sensei arriving to the location and he was glad. He wanted to complete this mission and go home as soon as possible. "Everything has been completed successfully on our end. Have there been any complications looking after Tazuna-san?" Inoichi asked immediately as he got within hearing range of Naruto.

Naruto shook his head negatively. "No, there have been no complications so far. We encountered no interference on the way to his house."

"Good. Naruto, I want you to get some sleep and then at night, the final stage of the mission will go ahead. Asuma, you and Naruto will head over to the location of Gato and eliminate all forms of opposition. Whilst that is happening, I will take Tazuna to the capital and inaugurate him as the new Daimyo." Inoichi commanded to which the other two nodded.

**x-X-x**

Later that night, Naruto had just caught up on his sleep and then watched as Inoichi and Asuma slept to recover as much alertness as possible.

With everything now set in place, Naruto and Asuma went one way and Inoichi went the other. With the direction that Inoichi had sensed the chakra coming from, it didn't take much time to make their way to the base that had been setup.

"Alright Naruto, here's the plan. I have been around the block a fair bit and know what Gato's type is going to be. He is going to be in the highest part of the building because he thinks he is invincible. We get in, do the job and then eliminate all of the bandits there as once they find out that their boss has been killed, they might come to the village and ransack it.

Ideally we will be not facing any resistance outside of the bandits although Zabuza and his accomplice but if it comes to it, expect to fight them and do not hold back. Zabuza is someone who doesn't need an introduction but the accomplice had speed that at least a special jonin would have. Unfortunately, that is all I know about the person."

There was a confident grin on the face of Naruto. "Don't worry sensei, I have grown a fair bit since you last saw me fight. I have a few tricks up my sleeve which I don't think an enemy would like at all."

"Heh, I'll see it when I believe it gaki. Let's go." Asuma stated before the two darted off.

Naruto trailed behind Asuma as the two raced towards the mansion. "Follow me!" Asuma called out as the ninja jumped through a large window. "There's two large chakra signatures approaching quickly. I am sure that this is Zabuza and his accomplice. Quick, we need to ensure that Gato is dead."

Naruto did just that and when they went into the house from the window, Naruto spotted a man with a mace in his hand outside a door. Naruto immediately fired off some finger bullets in his direction. The man didn't even have time to react as the bullets entered and exited his body in less than a second. He slumped to the floor as blood pooled around him.

Asuma didn't wait as he busted down the door. Both the jonin and chunin of Konoha were greeted with the site of a man who had a severe case of a receding hair line. "Gato, you are hereby sentenced to death for the crimes committed to wave country."

"Look, I can cut you a deal okay, just please don't kill me! What do you want? Money, women, anything, you name it and I can get it for you!"

"No. We will not be swayed by any and all attempted bribes. You will die today." Asuma said with a frown on his face. He didn't like at all what the man was doing to this peaceful place. He had been on missions previously here and it was once a nice, prosperous fishing town.

Naruto popped up. "I don't know; I mean how much money are you offering?" the look that was on the face of Asuma was something that Naruto almost laughed at.

"What the fuck are you doing kid." Asuma knew that Naruto had a large obsession with money which he largely put down to the fact that the boy was an orphan but Asuma didn't think that Naruto would stoop to this level. He gave the boy a levelled glare and saw a small smirk on his face and Asuma almost couldn't help himself but grin as well.

Gato quickly realised that this was his chance. If he ever wanted a chance to live, then he had to take it right now. "Done! Name your price and I will write it down on this check!" Gato said as he quickly pulled out his check book.

"One million dollars."

"What! That's preposterous! That's more than double than what I am paying that fool Zabuza! There's no way in hell I'm paying that much money to a fucking kid!"

"Alright then, have it your way. Asuma, he's all yours." Naruto said before turning to the side.

"Wait wait wait! Alright, I will pay it!" Gato said as sweat rolled down his brow. _Just you wait kid, I am going to make your life miserable when this is all over and done with._

"This had better be worth treason that I will be committing." Naruto mumbled loud enough that the other two people in the room heard. "Hand the check over if you value your life." Naruto said as he held out his hand. Once the check transferred hands, Naruto turned around and got into a fighting position facing Asuma.

When he saw this, Gato breathed a sigh of relief. His near heart attack was on hold for now.

"Naruto! Get back!" Asuma barked out his orders as he sensed the impending arrival of shinobi. Naruto did just that and shun-shined back to where Asuma stood before immediately firing off his Katon: Tenshi Shuryudan (Fire Release: Drilling Finger Grenades) off at Gato to finish the man.

Before they could connect with the man who had a look of fear and anger on his face, a massive blade appeared out of nowhere and caused a massive explosion when the two forces collided.

"If you want me to protect you, you're going to offer me double what you just gave that kid." Zabuza gruffly stated as he stared down at the two shinobi who had managed breach the mansion so quickly. "Well Asuma, is this kid going to die like your previous student?"

"I'm already paying you a lot of money!"

"Yeah and that contract is solely for killing the bridge builder guy. If you want me to save your ass from this situation, then you are going to pay me extra."

Gato hated the position that he was put in by two separate ninjas in the space of a minute. He knew though that there was nothing that he could though.

If he got out of this alive, he was definitely going to have to rethink his dealings with ninjas.

"Fine, fine. Just make sure you damn kill these people." Gato grumbled, now confident that he was going to live. He didn't exactly have much faith in the younger shinobi from Konoha but he didn't have much of a choice at the time.

The second that he said this, Gato got out of his chair and ran to his balcony. The set of stairs out there would be a much safer escape route than what the normal way would be.

"Naruto, we can't waste any time. As much as I would like to torture the two in front of us, our mission is Gato, not them. Let's bring some heat."

"Gotcha sensei Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu (Fire Release: Grand fireball jutsu)" Naruto called out right at the same time that Asuma went through his own hand seals.

"Shit! Haku. We need to cool things down." The two ninjas both went through the same seals.

"Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Release: Water Formation Wall)" Was called out as they a massive water wall forme inside the large room of Gato's mansion.

"Fall back."

"Yes Zabuza-sama."

The two ninjas jumped out the glass window planning to put distance between their enemy. They wouldn't be able to effectively use the mist that Zabuza was famous for.

When the steam cleared enough to the point where Naruto and Asuma could see through it, they both noticed that their opponents had left the room. They were still on guard. "Gato also went that way, we have no choice but to follow them even if we are walking into a trap." Asuma stated which Naruto acknowledged.

"Right." Naruto said as the two ran out and were immediately assaulted by a giant swinging blade. Naruto had chosen to use two bone spears as his form of defence whilst Asuma used his trench knives.

"Hmm. So you're that Kaguya kid I have been hearing so much about recently. I guess we will see who has the better Kiri bloodline then won't we Haku." Zabuza grunted as he followed up with another swing of his famed sword.

Naruto was definitely impressed with the amount of strength that was needed to swing that blade with such force without gravity affecting the trajectory of the blade. Naruto didn't have much time to admire the body of Zabuza as he saw incoming senbon. Instead of dodging the incoming metal of death, Naruto smirked, eager to show off his newest creation.

"Boom." The bone clone stated before it exploded in a shower of bone fragments that immediately went in every direction.

Zabuza and Haku did their best to dodge the incoming fragments that they knew would do large amounts of damage if they connected. Zabuza had the luck of using his blade to block a large surface area so that the bits of bone hit the sword instead of his flesh. Haku didn't have the meat cleaver at his disposal but he still had ways of negating the attack.

The hyoton user created an ice mirror as quickly as he could to and walked through one side and out the other. The bones sent by Naruto didn't have the luxury of being able to traverse the ice as easily as Haku did as they connected before sinking in about 5cm into the 10cm thick ice wall.

Naruto and Asuma burst out through the hole in the wall. Asuma going straight for Zabuza in a vicious kenjutsu battle. Naruto sped almost as fast as Asuma which was surprising to the bearded jonin. _I knew that Naruto was fast but I didn't think he would get this fast this quickly. I'll have to up my own training to make sure he doesn't pass me until he is at least 20!_

Naruto ran around the side of the mirror and as he was running, a small spike came out at a surprising speed. He did his best but a small cut appeared on his arm and blood started trickling out. The chunin quickly realised that he was dealing with a good shinobi and his bones came out into the positions he used for his taijutsu style. A few of the blades that were closest to Naruto's hands were faintly glowing orange.

Naruto quickly closed the gap on his foe who was moving fairly fast but he was glad that he had been working on his speed recently. Naruto swung his elbow at haku and intended to catch the hyoton user with the bone sticking out.

Haku dodged the attack and threw the senbon in her hand straight at Naruto right at point blank range. In an impressive display of reflexes, Naruto parried the weapon off to the side as he continued on his path. Naruto swung another fist.

_He is too fast! The only way I would be able to match this speed would be in my mirrors. I also can't attempt to block the attack as that would pretty much be suicide. I must win for Zabuza-sama though._

Haku moved to dodge the attack completely. She wasn't fast enough however as Naruto managed to rake two knuckles down Haku's arm starting at his chest. Naruto grinned as the two knuckles that had made contact had small bones protruding out. It was a shallow cut but it did travel the whole way down the arm and Naruto was happy about that.

Naruto watched as the shunshin took place. "Katon: Tenshi Shuryudan (Fire Release: Drilling Finger Grenades)!" Naruto shouted out as he fired off the elemental enhanced bullets. Because they were his own bone, they took so little chakra to fire off Naruto had no need for kunai and shuriken. There was the added benefit that he could use this with his elemental chakra which made it far more versatile.

Having seen this jutsu previously Haku quickly brought up an ice mirror once again. Once her defence was complete, Haku used the nearby water thanks to Zabuza who was currently in the midst of his own fight. "Suiton: Sensatsu Suishō (Water Release: Thousand water needles of death."

Naruto dodged the incoming needles but not before taking one just above his kneecap. The blonde haired teenager grunted as he ripped out the senbon and threw it back in the direction that it came from. Naruto was frustrated. He knew he had the advantage when it came to speed and yet he still hadn't made the most of that minor skill difference. _I have to finish this guy off as quickly as possible! Asuma-sensei needs my help and also, there is Gato who we have to kill._

Naruto sent fire chakra to his legs which allowed him to move that little bit faster. It was something that he had been experimenting with recently and he noticed that whilst it didn't give anywhere near the same performance boost that lightning chakra did, it warmed up the muscles so that they could perform at their optimal best. It was a small difference but Naruto hoped it would win the fight.

Naruto moved at an even faster speed and zeroed in on his opponent. His first attack was a feint. His next attack was not. Naruto focused on firing a single bone bullet from his finger as quickly as he could. The bullet embedded itself into the abdomen of Haku and blood started pouring from the wound immediately, staining the man's clothes.

The Uzumaki didn't waste any time as he produced a bone spear in his right hand before driving it straight through the ribcage of Haku. Tears were running down her face but not from pain. _I'm sorry Zabuza-sama I was not more useful. I have failed you._

Naruto panted hard as the weapon was discarded into the ground. One thing that Dr Yakushi had warned him about was to never let the bones that had someone else's blood on them recede back into his body. That was how you got aids. No one wanted to get aids.

Naruto let the fire chakra release from his muscles. He knew that he had to refine the technique as it increased his heart rate significantly. _Guess I have to do some more conditioning when I get back home…_

The chunin stood up and inhaled as much air as he could into his desperate lungs. Having wasted enough time as it was, Naruto headed off into the direction that he last saw Asuma-sensei.

**x-X-x**

**Author's Notes**

Because there has been so long since an update I thought I would spoil you guys with a chapter which is twice as long

As always, if you have anything that you think would be cool for this story, let me know and we can discuss that along with my plans for the story.

Edit: rearranged scenes to allow the timeline so the timeline wasn't screwed up with the plans that I have.


	17. And I will make a wish

Naruto came to the sight of Asuma-sensei duking it out in a vicious kenjutsu fight. Blood was falling from both combatants. Zabuza also had a few burn marks on his body which Naruto imagined came from the Katon: Haisekishō (Fire Release: Ash pile burning) jutsu.

As he watched the two fight from a distance, Naruto knew that he had to get this right. At the moment, it was currently a one on one fight and Zabuza didn't know that Haku was dead.

Naruto was currently caught in two minds as he watched the fight. Whilst there was a mission to complete, Naruto also didn't want to go after Gato whilst Asuma-sensei was still in danger. Whilst he was confident that his sensei could hold his own as they were both medium to high A-ranked ninjas in the bingo book, Naruto didn't want to lose his sensei.

The man was the closest thing he had ever had to a father and with having lost Ino and Choji to the daimyo's guard for 2 years. That was certainly painful enough. He didn't want to lose Asuma for life. He didn't know what that would do to him psychologically.

On the other hand, this was still an S-ranked mission and it meant that it needed to be successful at all costs. Danzo-sensei would certainly be displeased if the mission was not completed.

What made Naruto's mind up was the fact that after Zabuza was dead, both he and Asuma could search for Gato together. Naruto was not a sensor by any means and wasn't the greatest at tracking general. He knew where his limits were and knew when to turn to others for help.

The blonde figured that with his opponent being insanely proficient in the art of the silent kill, he would have honed senses. There was no point trying to be stealthy so he would have to make an all-out dash.

_Now! _Naruto thought to himself as he sprinted forward, katon chakra running through his muscles and prepared a rasengan in his hand. Admittedly, it wasn't as quick or as powerful as the ones that Jiraiya could make but ever since learning about the history of the jutsu, Naruto wanted to get more proficient at the jutsu. He wanted to complete it.

"Sensei! Dodge!" Naruto called out at the last possible moment and launched the hand holding the rasengan in his hand as quickly as possible. Zabuza also heard the same words of Asuma and attempted to dodge the incoming attack.

Attempted. Naruto managed to graze the side of Zabuza's abdomen and blood started coming out. It was faster than any cut he had received today.

"I guess that we're both even now Zabuza having lost a student." Asuma said with a smirk adorning his face. He had been wanting to say that for a long time so that Zabuza could feel the same pain that he had to suffer through.

"Tch. That tool was nothing to me. He is of no more use. Nothing more." Whilst he shouldn't be surprised given the man's history, Asuma was shocked and appalled at what he heard.

Naruto shared the same opinion of his sensei. "Wow you seriously are cunt of a human being. His last words were how sorry he was for not helping you more as tears were coming down his face. You are fucked."

Zabuza grunted. He didn't want to admit to either of these pathetic tree fuckers that Naruto's words had struck a nerve in the man. The former mist shinobi was just about to rush forward and slice the two enemy ninjas off. He heard three incoming noises. He definitely hoped that these people were not after him.

"Well this is definitely unexpected. I never would have expected to find Zabuza-san here...this changes things." The man murmured to himself.

Stars lit up in the one of the boy's eyes as shark like teeth appeared from his mouth. "Zabuza-sempai!" Suigetsu shouted out in glee. Chojuro was nervous, looking at one of the former members of the seven swordsmen of the mist. Zabuza was always the second strongest behind Kisame.

"Ao, what are you doing here with those two no less? Did the Orangutan let you off her leash to come out to the mainland?" Zabuza grunted.

Ao frowned. He definitely didn't like the insult thrown his way. "Back in my day Zabuza, you would show your superiors respect!" Chojuro meanwhile stammered as he realised who Zabuza meant when he used the word Orangutan. _M-m-Mei-sama_

"In case you haven't noticed, I haven't been a kiri shinobi in more than a decade! If you don't have anything important to say, can you kindly get fucked so I can butcher these tree huggers!" Zabuza said with a pissed off expression on his face. It was clear to see that he was never one for authority.

"Well, unfortunately Zabuza, we can't let you kill that boy right there. Also, Yagura is no longer in charge of Kiri."

That definitely made the eyebrows of Zabuza rise… if he had any. "What, Shelly ain't in charge anymore? Who is it now then?" Chojuro couldn't help but gape in shock when he heard yet another insult being flung. This time it was at their former kage no less!

"Yes. Yagura has been killed. Mei Terumi is now our Mizukage as she led the rebels in the defeat of the Yondaime. Against my request, she has informed me that should I ever meet you, you are free to come back to Kirigakure, pardoned of all your outstanding crimes." Ao said with distaste in his mouth. He was very much a stickler for the rules and thought Zabuza should pay for attempting to murder the Mizukage, despite the fact that he was a tyrant who needed be stopped.

"Wow, carrot top is now the Mizukage! And she defeated Yagura!? I'm fucked then… What happens if I refuse?" The man holding the meat cleaver questioned, weighing up his options. _Damn! Mei must have gotten real strong if she managed to take down Yagura! She's changed from when I last saw her._

"We will be forced to reclaim back the kubikiribocho." That would normally not be a threat to Zabuza but given the state he was in and also that he had two enemies with one having just taken down Haku… "Well, it seems like I don't have any choice in the matter now do I?"

"Naruto! We have to retreat. We will not be able to take these three new shinobi as well as Zabuza." Asuma called out to his student who nodded. The two Konoha ninjas looked at one another and nodded.

Both of them immediately went through hand seals. Ao noticed this and immediately sprinted forward, hoping to stop them before their jutsu could take effect. He had seen the blood on the outfits of both Asuma and Naruto and made a judgement call.

"Katon: Haisekishō (Fire Release: Ash pile burning)" The two called out as the cloud of ash left their lungs and entered the air. They immediately blew it up right when Ao started to dart back but it was too late for the veteran Shinobi.

The cloud exploded in flames burning anything that was touching it. Ao wasn't but he was close to it. Searing flames jutted out at Ao and everything was free game. Luckily for the man, most of his body was covered in thick clothing which prevented his skin from taking the heat immediately.

His face was not so lucky. The flames hit the man's face and the intense heat caused blisters the moment that they came in contact. The eye patch that he was wearing that protected his Byakugan wasn't the most flame resistant and damage was done to the eye below.

Quickly, Ao got rid of the eye patch and used a water jutsu to put out the rest of the flames on his body. When that was done, he ordered Chojuro to come over and use the little medical ninjutsu that he knew.

"Damn. The area is saturated with chakra from the smog they still left up. I can't get a good read on them. We still have orders to follow from the Mizukage. We will locate Raiga and reclaim the lightning fangs." Ao said with distaste. He did not like losing but he knew he had a mission to complete which was more important to their economy and future.

**x-X-x**

Naruto and Asuma were panting as they rushed through the wave countryside, back to where Inoichi was. Since he was the sensor, he was their best chance at making out of this place alive. The fact that he was also a jonin helped out immensely.

Five minutes after their little run in with the mist shinobi, Naruto and Asuma had made it to Inoichi's location. They quickly met up with the man and briefed him on what was happening. "Right." The man said before appearing to concentrate for a few moments. "I can feel where the fight was, you two deposited a fair amount of chakra. We are north east from that location and they are headed south west towards fire country. I believe that they have another mission or they don't think it is feasible to chase after you."

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. "Unfortunately I didn't get to secure the body of the hyoton user to bring back to Konoha for testing. Also, it is safe to believe that Gato is still out there because neither of us confirmed the kill." Naruto commented which Asuma nodded in regards to the Gato front.

"Whilst it is part of our mission to kill the man, he is not the primary objective. Our primary objective was inserting Tazuna as the daimyo of wave country and use this as a military leverage point. With the bridge being built and Tazuna becoming the daimyo, he can force Gato out of the country and that can be done through the purchase of a mission. Gato will know that Konoha is after his life so that he won't show up here or in fire country if he knows what is good for him.

"So what's the plan now Inoichi-senpai?" Naruto questioned to the man who was his former teammate's father.

"We will stay low. The town doesn't need to know we are here. Once we can confirm that the mist shinobi have left the island which I will be able to do, we will then eliminate all of the bandits in the area. Finally, we will help Tazuna and his government seize control of all of Gato's assets here and return them to the country. Finally, when that is all done, we will await the other squad coming from Konoha.

They will be responsible for guarding the daimyo and his people as well as setting up a military base here to protect the people. The team I believe is one jonin, two chunin and three genin." Inoichi stated to which Naruto nodded.

**x-X-x**

On the other side of the elemental nations, both Ino and Choji were coming back from their mission just south of land of earth border with land of grass. Both were tired but relieved as they had successfully completed their escort mission of controversial documents that needed to be secure.

They had encountered a enemy ninjas but it wasn't something that they couldn't handle. Choji was especially pleased with how the mission went as he got to field test the new jutsu he had been working on over the past month and it worked successfully.

Looking at her teammate, Ino was definitely impressed with the amount of growth she had seen in her teammate. Choji had grown a fair amount, hitting his growth spurt pretty much straight after arriving in the capital of fire country.

This was combined with the realisation that he used the token Akimichi excuse that his fat powered his jutsus. Whilst it was definitely true that the extra fat on the body did help use the jutsu, it was exaggerated. Choji came to the conclusion that he was using the excuse as a reason to not look after his weight.

The chunin started taking more care of his diet to not eat what he didn't need and with the combination of this and his growth spurt, Choji's physique had changed quite significantly. He no longer had a gut and man boobs. He instead had a thin layer of fat covering his body which showed that he had serious muscle underneath for his age. He wasn't bulky and he wasn't ripped. He was the same size as Naruto just bigger proportionately.

This increase in muscle thanks to the change in diet and training allowed the boy to maintain his strength but drastically increase the speed he was able to move at.

In addition to this, he had also gotten rid of the underwear (bandana) on top of his head and also discarded the scarf. Now that he didn't have the double chin, he had no need to wear the scarf.

It wasn't just his taijutsu that had improved significantly. His ninjutsu repertoire had also increased. His proficiency with doton manipulation had increased where he now had completed the first stage of nature transformation proficiency.

With that completed, Choji was able to now experiment. Ever since he had seen Naruto talking about combining his bloodline with his element, Choji wanted to try it for himself. Naruto's jutsus had changed for the better into new and improved jutsus and he hoped that the same thing would happen to his own.

The very proof was in the jutsu that he had used to finish off the enemy of their most recent mission.

As Ino looked at Choji with admiration, she didn't realise that he was looking at with that same admiration. Her skills had improved quite substantially over the three months and that was not progressing at all in her family techniques.

Because her clan techniques involved the brain, she had to be supervised by an experienced member of the clan before she could learn the techniques. There was no room for error whatsoever as it could do untold damage to one's psyche.

This forced Ino to have to branch out. Thanks to the resources available at the palace, Ino did not have a shortage of material to train in.

The blonde knew that she was never going to be a taijutsu monster like Naruto or to a lesser extent Choji. This meant that she would have to come up with some other way to win fights as the majority of them were fought in the close to mid-range zones. Thus entered her new best friend; her wakizashi blade. It suited her in that it kept shinobi far enough away that they couldn't engage in taijutsu but also wasn't as long and as heavy as a katana. Every morning, Ino would go through her katas as she tried to get as proficient as possible with the blade. Thanks to the numerous samurai on offer, it allowed to get a good teacher each and every morning and the group training facility.

Having decided almost immediately that she was going to wield the blade with one hand, Ino worked on her ninjutsu and chakra control, wanting it to get to the point where she could use one handed seals. That would make her a lot more combat ready.

She already had an idea in mind of combining her kenjutsu with genjutsu to distract her opponents and then use her blade to finish them off. It was in the beginning stages but she could see a future with it.

In addition to this, Ino had been drastically increasing the amount of physical conditioning she was doing each day. She was getting fitter day by day and could now keep up with some of the more experienced members of the guardian ninjas.

That wasn't even the best bit. The best bit was that because of all the hard work she was putting into diet and exercise, she looked and felt the best she ever had; her clothes fit her better and as far as she was concerned, she was growing in all the right places not any extra!

Another thing that Ino realised about herself and was trying to remedy was her chakra efficiency. She was trying to make her reserves as large as possible since they were pitiful. In addition to this, she was trying to get even more efficient using the chakra that she already had.

Her reserves were upper genin level but her chakra control was jonin level already. She didn't know how she was going to use this to her advantage but she had heard that Tsunade-sama increased her strength thanks to insanely good chakra control. Maybe she could do something similar like increase her speed? You were manipulating the same muscles, just slightly different.

"I wonder how Naruto is doing?" Ino questioned which broke Choji out of his trance. Normally, she would think that the person was staring at her body but with Choji, it was different. He was her brother in everything but blood.

"I dunno Ino-chan. I bet he is improving just like us and going on missions collecting those pay checks. Those milk cartons have his face on them so I am sure he is getting paid a pretty penny which should make him happy." Choji stated. He couldn't hate on his friend? He didn't come from the under privileged background that Naruto did so he couldn't judge his friend despite thinking his money obsessions was a slight bit unhealthy.

"Maybe when we get back to Konoha, he can shout us dinner at the most expensive restaurant with all that money he has lying around." Ino grumbled. It was clear to Choji that she was still sore about the way that the team broke up 3 months ago.

He was too but he didn't think that throwing their ex-teammate's name around like that would help bring the team back together when they met up again. "True… but I think we could have told him beforehand that we got the offer. Maybe then the outcome would have been different." Choji stated, trying to be the peacemaker.

"If we told him than his answer would have changed. At least this way, we know what his true feelings were. I mean I never would of thought that Naruto would have turned down money for friends. I guess you were right in that we could of handled things better that day." Ino replied with a sigh.

"Hey, look on the bright side Ino." She looked at Choji weirdly, urging him to continue. "I am sure that there are things about how we left that he regrets. In fact, I bet that when we meet up again, it will be awkward at first, but we will go back to being good friends."

"I wished I shared that same enthusiasm." Ino wistfully sighed. They had a long time until they returned home. They had completed 3 months of their 2-year commitment and the Yamanaka would be lying to herself if she hadn't been thinking of the decision to leave Konoha every night she had been here.

**x-X-x**

Naruto awoke to a knock at the door. Curious as to whom it was, the blonde haired boy quickly got changed and walked over to the door. He at least wanted to be presentable in case it was a mission.

"Oh, it's just you..."

Affronted, Jiraiya responded back. "Oi midget, what's that supposed to mean?" The man said with a scowl on his face. It didn't reach his eyes though.

"I quickly had to get dressed in case it was someone saying that I had a mission ready for me. Then I found out that it was only you."

"You're looking at a S-rank ninja kid, you should count you're lucky stars that one is interested in you." Jiraiya gruffly stated.

"Well sure, you might have that title in the bingo book but you haven't yet shown me anything above a B-rank ninja at best." Naruto replied, not wanting to make the man's ego any bigger than it was.

"Is that a challenge I am hearing, I am going to take that as a challenge. Just like my self-appointed mission to make you a pervert!"

"No! No no no no no! I want to be cool like Asuma-sensei, not you/" Naruto was backpedalling. He knew what Jiraiya's reputation was like and he didn't want a part of it.

"You think the little shit flinger is cool? Tch, a Gaki like you could learn more than a few things from a man of wisdom like me." Jiraiya said with a grin on his face as he came and sat down on the only seat in Naruto's tiny apartment.

"Coming from someone whose face looks a little rapey, I think I will take my chances. So is there anything I can get you, water?" Naruto replied with a grin

_He's got the quick thinking of Minato and the sass of Kushina. I'm sure you guys would be proud of him._

"Just water thanks. We have a few things we need to talk about. Some of which you probably already know."

Hearing the seriousness in way that Jiraiya was speaking, Naruto had a rough idea where the next conversation was going to go. The blonde gave Jiraiya a glass and held onto his own as he sat at the table chair. "So what is it that you want to speak to me about."

"Kakashi told me that you he told you about your ancestry. Naruto I just wanted to say first and foremost that they would both be proud who you have become." Jiraiya earnestly stated which made Naruto a little bit uncomfortable. He hadn't seen the man act like this before and it was a little weird.

"Thank you." Naruto thought for a moment, wondering whether or not to be blunt or dance around the truth. In the end he decided that the best way to get answers was by being direct. "What I want to know though, is from what Kakashi was telling me, you were very close to my father, how come I never met you until after the chunin exams?"

Jiraiya hang his head in shame. "Most of it is my fault but some of it is the blame of Sarutobi-sensei. After the death of your father, someone who I viewed as a son, I drowned my sorrows in drugs, prostitutes and alcohol. It took me five years to get over everything that happened. As I was doing this, I was also running counter intelligence as Konoha had been hit hard by the Kyubi attack and couldn't appear weak or the 3rd shinobi war would restart all over again."

Jiraiya shook his head. "The truth of the matter was I wasn't in a fit state to raise you mentally and emotionally and left you in the hands of Sarutobi-sensei, hoping that you would get better care than what you would have done if you were with me."

In all honesty, Naruto couldn't fault Jiraiya for becoming depressed with the death of his 'son' but that still didn't justify the man from running away from his problems. Jiraiya saw this look and spoke up once more. "One thing you will quickly realise, the more time you spend being a ninja is that no one is perfect, especially not the ones that get idolized."

Naruto frowned. "That explains the first five years of my life but what about the rest? Why didn't you visit me then?"

"I don't want to blame others but Sarutobi-sensei forbade me for visiting you. With you looking like a carbon copy of your father and hanging around me, it would have made the Konoha populace start to question your origins which was something that we couldn't have come out to the public.

At the time, you weren't strong enough to be able to defend yourself against half of Iwa which will be breathing down your neck for the rest of your life."

Naruto could definitely see his point, after what happened in wave country with the mist village wanting to kidnap him, he knew the threat of assassins was very real. "I can see why you guys did it but it doesn't seem fair for some reason."

"No it isn't. I think that Sarutobi-sensei also forbade me from visiting you because he was salty at Minato."

"Why would he be like that?" Naruto questioned, not sure what he was missing.

Jiraiya took a sip from the glass. "Well now that sensei is dead, I think it is okay if I break a few S-class secrets." Naruto's eyes widened in shock when he heard this. He repositioned himself on the edge of his seat, eager to hear what the toad sage had to say. "Your mother Naruto was the previous jinchuuriki of the Kyubi. I believe this combined with the DNA of the Yondaime was enough to produce the bloodline in you, or at least, that is the best conclusion I have come to. See, your father's ancestors originated from the mist village."

"How does this affect the Sandaime disliking me by proxy?"

"Well a Jinchuuriki's seal is weakest at birth." Jiraiya noticed the look of horror that overtook Naruto's face and quickly acted it upon it. "Don't worry. Minato was a seal master so nothing bad would have happened."

"Then what happened that night?" Naruto asked Jiraiya, the fact that he was being given just weren't adding up.

Jiraiya paused for a minute. "That's the questioned I have been asking myself for the past one and a half decades. Not a day goes by where I don't lose sleep on thinking about that night. Someone must of interfered with the process and forced the Kyubi to come out of the seal.

From there, your father made a choice when it came to who the new Kyubi jinchuuriki was going to be. He had a choice of making you it or making Konohamaru it. I believe that Minato made the choice to seal it into Konohamaru as he thought that with the support network available, he would have better chance at not getting treated badly unlike you who would be an orphan."

"Yeah, I've seen the occasional looks and whispers that he gets. I can imagine if they were a lot more frequent and vocal about it directed at me, it would have been hard to not get angry about it."

"That's my opinion on it as well. Sarutobi didn't share that opinion though. Both Kushina and Minato made me your godfather and I would have loved to be there more for you when you were younger." Jiraiya freely admitted.

Naruto could see the raw emotion in the eyes of the man in front of him. He wasn't sure what to say. Admittedly, Naruto still had some negative feelings, but he could see that Jiraiya was honest when it came to his flaws and could see the man was trying to repair the situation. "Well there's no use crying about the past because it doesn't help anyone and only makes us shittier people. You owe me though."

The grin on the face of Jiraiya couldn't have been any bigger. "Thanks Naruto, you don't know how much that means to an old man me." Jiraiya said with a small smile. Naruto wasn't sure but it almost looked as if he was going to leak a few tears. A moment later, Jiraiya sprung out of his chair. "Now we got all that sappy shit out of the way, we get to do the fun stuff! Come with me kid and I will show you something pretty amazing." Jiraiya said before placing his hand on Naruto's shoulder and then vanishing in a cloud of leaves.

**x-X-x**

Naruto and Jiraiya arrived at an desolate place that medium sized hedge surrounding the land. "What's this place?" Naruto asked with curiosity.

"This place is the Uzumaki compound. Originally, you were going to be told when you made jonin or turned 18, whichever came first but now with there being no Hokage to inforce the rules, I thought I might show you this.

"My clan… it has a compound?" Naruto asked in bewilderment. Everything that he had read pointed towards their being no clan compound.

"Well not until recently they didn't but I kind of did my magic." Jiraiya replied with a smirk on his face.

"What did you do?" The blonde questioned with a little bit of fear

"Well you know how I am super rich right?" When he saw that Naruto nodded, he continued on. "Well I am not as rich as I once was."

The gears turned inside the mind of Naruto only coming to one conclusion. "You bought the land here? But this is in a good area and how much did you buy, this would have costed a small fortune!"

"I bought 10 acres."

Naruto's eyes nearly bugged out of their head. "How did you manage to do that? Surely this land would have already been on sale since it's in a good area."

Jiraiya couldn't keep the smirk off of his face. "Well this was previously part of some other clan compound but they sold it to me when I gave them an offer that was too good to turn down." With Naruto looking at him expectingly, he continued on. "After the chunin exams, I went to Tsunade my former teammate and bought a third of the land of the Senju. She agreed to it since she's massively in debt and her clan is virtually extinct anyway. As far as she was concerned, it was a win win scenario for her."

"You mean…" Naruto questioned, struggling to believe what he thought he had just heard.

Jiraiya nodded. "Yeah Gaki, think of this as a belated birthday present for all the years that have gone by. Hopefully this repairs some of the damage."

"Wow… thanks kyofu." Naruto mumbled as he stared at the land in front of him. "Can we have a look inside?"

"Sure thing Naruto. Just follow me." Jiraiya said as he gave Naruto a tour of the new Uzumaki clan grounds. Naruto took particular interest in the temple that had been laid to ruin, especially when Jiraiya stated that this was the location that he was going to be born in if everything went to plan that night.

Immediately, as he was processing all of this information, Naruto had an idea forming in his head. He knew what he wanted to do with the money that he was earning. He wanted to restore the temple to its former glory. In addition to this, Naruto wanted to redesign the gardens that had been trampled on the Kyubi long ago. He could still see the damage that had been done which no one had bothered to clean up. It would take a long time but it was something he was keen to do.

_If only Ino was around. She would have loved to have had a hand in designing all of the gardens…_

**x-X-x**

Gato was furious. He had lost of a lot of money. He lost three million dollars in the space of five minutes, lost control over his company and got kicked out of a country which was making so much money for him. All of this as far as he was concerned was because of shinobi villages.

He may be a coward but he was a smart man. He had learnt his lesson in not dealing with shinobi villages head on. He had also learnt that there was more to life than money. He was going to take his time and survey his options but Gato was hooked.

Messing around with shinobi was something that he was not going to give up on. The idea of having a village backing him definitely sounded good.

**Author's Notes:**

I guess i spoilt you guys with this chapter coming out so quickly after the previous one. This is what happens when you are one of the only people at work and the rest are on holidays.


	18. Take a chance

"Man, this essay is no joke." Naruto mumbled to himself at the table in his apartment. He had already written 6 pages of his essay that he had to deliver to the governing council of Konoha in regards how Konoha could be improved. He had been given a time frame of three weeks to write it and he hoped that it was good enough.

The race to become the hokage of Konoha was not lost on Naruto and he had admitted privately to himself that the position was something that was too good of an opportunity to pass up on.

He was confident that he had the writing edge over Konohamaru when it came to the essay but he had no idea what sort of skill that Sasuke Uchiha had. From his dealings with the boy, Naruto was pretty confident that Sasuke didn't have as much of an interest in the title of Hokage as what either he or Konohamaru did.

As far as he was concerned, it was a nice bonus. It wasn't necessary however.

Naruto hoped that all of this meant that he would be in the driver's seat when it came to the judging of the essays. He had written 5,000 words already on it and hoped it would be decent enough.

_Might as well go and get some chocolate milk, I deserve a lot after all this! _Ever since his bank account had increased, so had his addiction to chocolate milk.

**x-X-x**

"So what are we doing today sensei?" Naruto questioned, eager to improve himself as a shinobi. Sure, he was mid to high chunin in skill already despite having only been a chunin for four months but he wasn't satisfied. He wanted to be at the top of the food chain!

"Well I thought I might start showing you advanced katon manipulation." Had Naruto spent more time around Jiraiya, he would have known to fear the smirk on the man's face. He didn't and thus, he was in blissful ignorance.

"Sweet! So what do I have do to for that!?"

"Well, all you have to do is follow me." The Toad Sannin stated as he walked off, Naruto following him.

**x-X-x**

_I'm gonna kill that fucking pervert when it get out of this place! _Naruto raged internally as he struggled to overcome his predicament.

Naruto was standing in a freezer in only his undies. Apparently, this was some form of fucked up training method that the Sannin had gone through when he was younger. Naruto liked to think that it was bullshit. There was no way someone willingly subjected themselves to this.

His goal was to cook a piece of meat, any of the ones on offer to a high quality. It had to me medium rare. The butcher of the place that he was in would be the taste tester and until it reached his standards, Naruto was allowed to say that he had completed his training.

The grins on the face of Jiraiya and the butcher in question made Naruto want to go on a murder spree.

The idea of cooking food with fire manipulation was nothing new to Naruto but circumstances that he was doing it in was. Since he was in very little clothing, he had to devote so much focus to warming himself up with his elemental chakra, instead of doing what he had been tasked to do.

He was not even doing that well as all of his toes were now blue and his fingers were going that way. _I've only got to last 10 more minutes of this hell! Come on Naruto. Focus! _The boy chanted to himself as he tried to not die of hypothermia.

_I wonder if I create an external skeleton around me, would it protect me from the fucking cold!? _Naruto wondered and in the end he decided, it couldn't be any worse than what he was feeling now, so he might as well try it. Moulding his chakra, Naruto allowed many bones to come out of his skin.

When he had his normal bone armour up, Naruto decided to up it once more, he tried to connect all of the bones to one another to create essentially a second skin of bone. The control required to do this was immense and multi-tasking two was really eating up his focus.

_How do people do this sort of stuff?_ Naruto wondered in shock as what he was doing was definitely not easy! He was past the point where he couldn't feel his hands as they were blue up until his wrist and ankles.

Five minutes later and the door opened. Naruto was fading and was not in a state where he noticed who it was.

_I guess that someone is here to save me. _With that last thought, Naruto dropped to the ground, out cold.

Jiraiya rushed into the room and picked the boy up off the cold, concrete floor, fire chakra already flooding his hands to warm Naruto up. He knew that he could heat up Naruto quickly and return him to normal and along with the small camera in the freezer, there was no real trouble. Not that Naruto knew that of course.

The problem came when Jiraiya started channelling katon chakra into Naruto and to warm him up but there was no response. His skin was staying as pale as ever with tinges of blue.

"Shit! It must be that bone armour thing he has on." The quick thinking Jiraiya said out loud before forming a rasengan in his hand and slamming it into the bone in Naruto's arm. The bone resisted it and Jiraiya gritted his teeth, changing the normal rasengan into an odama rasengan. Five seconds later and part of the bone chipped off, freeing half of Naruto's forearm.

Jiraiya immediately cancelled the rasengan and instantly channelled katon chakra to heat the boy up.

Colour returned in almost an instant. Blood flushed through the body of Naruto, allowing his limbs to get feeling and slowly, go from blue to their normal colour. Jiraiya noticed that there was twitching beneath his hand. Looking up, he noticed that Naruto was slowly starting to wake up.

"W-w-what happened?" Naruto questioned as he slowly regained consciousness.

"Don't move." Jiraiya ordered in a serious tone of voice for once. Naruto's response was to start shivering. Now that he was awake, he registered just how cold his body was. His hands and feet hurt so much and he couldn't even feel his toes.

"Get rid of that bone armour." When he heard this command, Naruto didn't hesitate and started moulding chakra. He found it harder than normal since he was shivering. It ruined his concentration. Slowly but surely, the bone armour regressed from covering his entire body to normal to nothing. The second that his hands and feet weren't covered, Jiraiya moved his hands so that the fire chakra would warm up the more in need parts of Naruto's body.

It was at this point that Naruto realised what it was that had happened and how he got into the mess. "Why the fuck did you put me in that freezer with no clothes and locking the door? Are you crazy?"

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, there was no real danger, I could instantly heat you up like just now. Think of it as character building." _I think I should keep secret the fact that when I did this, I started in a jumper and pants…_

"Character building my ass. After all of this is done, you owe me a pool filled with chocolate milk you stupid pervert." Naruto grumbled to himself, slowly regaining feeling in his fingers and toes, only for it to be the fact that he could feel that they were frozen.

"You wish you little shit. After the amount of money I dropped on you a few months ago, you aren't getting any presents any time soon." Jiraiya said but a grin was on his face before it got thoughtful look on it.

"You know, that bone armour that you had that covered your body was hard to break down. It even held up against a rasengan."

Now this had Naruto's attention. "Really, I knew it was strong, but I didn't know it was that strong!"

"Yeah, I mean, you might want to think of working that full body skeleton into a jutsu of some kind. With you being a taijutsu monster, this could make you even stronger."

Naruto was thoughtful for a moment. "Also, when I had that armour up, it insulated me from the cold better than what my skin did. I wonder how it would go about protecting me from heat and then by proxy, fire based attacks?" Naruto questioned to his sensei.

"It's worth a shot I guess. I mean if it can block me from all basic elemental attacks and even the rasengan, then that is definitely something that I should practice on."

"Alright Gaki, well I guess that you have a few things to work on. How about we go out for lunch, my treat."

"Sure!" Naruto said with enthusiasm. There was a smile on his face but his mind wasn't with it. He was already too busy thinking about the possibilities of this new discovery and how he could turn it into a jutsu!

**x-X-x**

"Right, so I will be leading this mission. Does anyone have any questions on this?" Naruto questioned although he hoped that it was a rhetorical question. He didn't want to have anyone question his authority.

"Yeah, I still don't see why you're in charge, I mean I proctored the most recent exam and you were in that." Anko said with a frown. She didn't like the idea of being bossed around by someone who was younger than herself. Especially when said person was also a lower rank.

"Maa, play nice Anko-san. Naruto-kun here is in charge as it will be a good learning opportunity. Technically I am in charge but I am only going to override Naruto if he requests that I do." Kakashi said, hoping that it placated the snake charmer.

A few of the other jonin and chunin on this mission voiced their disapproval at being led by someone who was still only 14 years old. Naruto steeled himself. He knew to expect this. Danzo-sensei had told him to expect this but he didn't like hearing it.

"No, I suppose she is right to voice her concerns. She is a ninja and she is risking her life for the completion of the mission." Naruto replied which made a smirk appear on the face of Anko. "I will just have to let the mission speak for itself." Naruto replied, which made a few people's respect for him increase. "That and the fact that I have 100% mission record despite having been on multiple S-ranked missions is more than a lot of people can say…" Naruto finished, letting it hang in the air.

Kakashi internally face palmed. He could see that what Naruto was doing was having an effect on his co-workers for this mission. He could have easily done without that final line. That essentially brought him back to square one with their respect.

**x-X-x**

"I suppose you didn't do too bad brat." Anko said in passing as Naruto headed off in a different direction to her.

_My ass I didn't do too bad. I did good and you know it… you were just not willing to say it. _Naruto grumbled to himself as he walked to the Hokage's tower. He had a mission report to fill out and he also had to be debriefed.

"Naruto, I see that you have come back from your mission. I trust that it was a success?" Danzo questioned when he saw his most recent student. He judged that everything went off without a hitch as Naruto didn't have a scratch on him.

"Yes, everything went fine Danzo-sama. I did not need Kakashi to take over but I did ask him for guidance on a few occasions." Naruto replied. It was the first time he had been on a mission of this scope whilst being the team leader. It was a high A-ranked mission towards the land of grass border. He knew that Danzo-sensei and the rest were counting on him to lead the mission successfully. He panicked once. Once. After that minor blimp, Naruto successfully completed the rest of the mission without any trouble.

"That is good to hear. Far too many ninjas become overconfident and believe that they have the answer to everything. A good ninja is a powerful ninja but a great ninja is someone who realises the strengths and weaknesses of his squad and delegates the parameters so that everyone is playing to their strengths."

Naruto definitely agreed. Whilst he did not consider himself a genius like Itachi and the others before him, there were some areas that he felt that he was quite good in. The first one was being able to plan. He was able to plan well so that there was a much smaller chance of anything surprising popping up.

The second was that he was good at making sure those plans came to fruition. He was good at multi-tasking and managing his time effectively. He knew when to go to others for help to complete the task as effectively as possible.

To be honest, he thought of himself as the best possible candidate for the position of Hokage when the other two choices were Konohamaru and Sasuke. Konohamaru was too childish for the position despite having the potential to be on the level you needed to be. Sasuke on the other hand was too self-centred. Whilst it was fine for a normal shinobi, the role of the Hokage was a different beast altogether.

Whilst he knew that he was not perfect and there would be quite a few testing times ahead, Naruto was confident that he would do the best job out of the three.

"Would you like to help me with these reports?" Danzo questioned, breaking Naruto out of his musings.

_Not particularly but I think that you already know that… this must be some kind of test. No one would willingly do this in their own free time. I guess I might as well bite the kunai._

"Sure, I didn't have any plans anyway." Naruto tried to say with a convincing facial expression. He didn't.

Danzo gave off the smallest of smirks. _He is better than Konohamaru and Sasuke. Both of those chunin decided that they had more important things to do. I was right in using the sharingan on the Daimyo to agree to the proposal for the new Hokage._

He could already tell that after the past four months as the interim Hokage, Danzo knew the role had to be in the hands of someone much younger. It was draining. It wasn't physically draining, it was mentally draining.

Sure, he could handle it but looking back on it now that he was actually in the position, the idea of the hokage had been built up over time and Danzo realised that he didn't like it as much as he thought he would. He had built up the image of the hokage in his mind after decades of pining for it only to have it now and it didn't live up to his expectations, not by a long shot.

He had to wonder just how Hiruzen put up with it for so long. Danzo had now come to the conclusion that he much preferred to not be underneath the spotlight. He was not that type of person, he privately admitted to himself. It was more for people like his most recent student Naruto.

_He has come along nicely but he still has a long way to go if Konoha is going to reclaim its position as the strongest village. The shinobi training was the easy part, now he has to become a politician._

**x-X-x**

"That armour of yours is pretty good but there are a few flaws with it." Jiraiya commented which Naruto agreed with.

"Yeah, I can hardly move my joints at all." The blonde chunin said with annoyance. He had just figured out a new potential trump card jutsu and now he had realised that he couldn't fight with it.

"Surely you can just stop using creating the bones around your joints to give you most of your flexibility back right? It would be better to have that defence and have parts of it missing than to not have it at all." Jiraiya mused.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, but that doesn't help the fact that I am not as fast as what I am without it. You even said so yourself. Without the armour, I am a low jonin in speed with the only person my age close to me is Lee. He probably would be better if he never got injured by Gaara…"

Jiraiya could see where Naruto was coming from. His speed was one of his best assets when combined with his bloodline. The armour that Naruto had created though, Jiraiya saw a lot of potential in it and didn't want Naruto to not realise it. "True, but you have to think, you've only just turned 15. You are much quicker than what I was at your age. Your speed will naturally develop as you get older and put more time into training your body. That armour of yours though, that can help you become a true powerhouse. The type of ninja that can become a Kage."

Naruto was shocked. "Really, you think it is that good?" Naruto questioned. He knew the jutsu was good but he didn't think it was _that_ good.

"You're not looking at the bigger picture Naruto. Think, if you can combine smaller bits of bone with your element, just imagine what you could do when you combine your element with the armour?" Jiraiya questioned as he saw Naruto's eyes widen.

"We have worked out that it can take the brunt of any B-ranked attack and below so by theory, you could cover yourself in a B-ranked fire ninjutsu and because of the armour, you wouldn't feel a thing. Outside of something like Gai using the gates or the Yondaime Raikage using his lightning armour, it would render all taijutsu and kenjutsu based attacks useless in theory."

This was something that Naruto hadn't thought of but it only made him grin. The teenager inside of him was grinning at the thought. The potential new jutsu he could make sounded insanely awesome. He was incredibly glad his element was fire, cause it was the coolest of the lot.

With lunch having just finished, Naruto got back up from his seat and created the bone armour covering his entire body. Over the past two weeks with Jiraiya, Naruto had gotten it down to only five seconds from the five minutes it previously took to apply the armour. That still wasn't good enough in the eyes of the Toad Sannin.

Doing what his sensei had said, Naruto created the majority of the armour but left the joints free from bone marrow. The boy tested out his range of motion and quickly realised that he had about 75% the amount of flexibility that he had without the suit.

With a curious expression on his face, Naruto channelled enough fire chakra to cover his entire hand in a small flame. It wasn't as hot as the one that he used to in combination with his bloodline during the fight with Gaara but it didn't need to be. There was no need for Naruto to focus that much fire to one point during training. His goal was to build strength, not test it.

Flames covered his hand from his wrist down but the blonde wasn't satisfied with that. Ever since Jiraiya had implanted the idea of having what was essentially a suit of fire covering whilst inside his bone armour, he wanted to find out if it would work out in the field. More importantly, he wanted to find out how cool it looked.

**x-X-x**

Unaware of how their former teammate was training, Choji and Ino both attended the summons of the Fire Lord. They didn't know what their next mission was going to be but they were ready.

"My lord, how can we be of service?" Ino questioned as she bowed down to one of the most powerful men in the country. She had just gotten comfortable with the man who was her boss in being able to speak to him on a first name basis. When a mission came up however, she spoke professionally.

"Ino-chan, how many times have I told you not to call me that?" The man pouted in mock sadness.

The blonde bombshell backtracked and stammered in her response. "I'm sorry Akira-sama, it's just ingrained in us at a young age to call someone of your position by your title." Choji replied, covering for his sister from another mister.

"I know that Choji but the reason why I offered the position to you two along with young Naruto-kun is because you three aren't simple yes men as you proved during my stay during the chunin exams."

The mention of Naruto brought a slight change in the facial expressions of the two ninja. Their teammate was a sore subject for them.

Either unconcerned or unaware, Akira continued on. "I am surrounded by many people looking to make a quick ryo or who live in fear of my power that they advise me on making bad decisions. Whilst I myself don't know much about what makes a shinobi good, the people that watched your performances during the chunin exams vouched for you. I hired you not for your abilities but for your personalities and potential."

This was not something that Ino hadn't already theorized. Compared to the other guardian ninjas here, both she and Choji were a fair bit behind the standard. They had improved a lot over the past 5 months and caught and were only slightly behind the other members.

"You have improved immensely over the past five months and I have personally seen the amount of effort that you two have put in… Something which I am sure that Naruto Uzumaki will be very happy to see."

The respective clan heirs' head shot up when they heard this. "What do you mean?" Ino questioned with a hint of a grin on her face. She didn't want to celebrate too soon but it seemed as if she would get to see her former teammate shortly.

"I will be going to Konoha in a fortnight for about a week and you will be two of the guards accompanying me. You will be given time off to see your families and friends." The blonde haired girl grinned like a madman. Not only did she get to see Naruto who she wanted to patch things up with, but she also got to see the family that she had been missing for quite a while. The feelings of home sickness had already started hitting the woman hard.

_I wonder how much Naruto-kun has changed I mean, he was kind of cute back then and he at least validated my appearance. I bet he has put on a bit of muscle! _Ino internally giggled. One of the things that had happened when she was over in the capital was that she no longer was infatuated with Sasuke Uchiha. Sure, he was physically attractive but his personality was his best form of contraception as far as she was concerned.

She wasn't like Sakura in that she would base her life around boys. Boys were stupid. During the time that she had spent at the capital, she had seen so many women whose life dream was to look pretty and get pregnant to some rich man. She was disgusted by it. It was demeaning to hard working women and was a terrible thing to teach young women.

Part of the reason was because she saw herself going down that path when she in the academy, what with her fascination on Sasuke and all that. She wanted her life to have more meaning than being the trophy wench of some man. The platinum blonde wanted so much more than that.

With her mind no longer being fixated on Sasuke, it meant that there were far more options out there but none sparked her interest quite like Naruto did.

He was smart, determined, kind, had a vision and he was easy on the eyes. The two main things that Ino liked about him though was that he wasn't the type of person who would let her walk all over him. She immediately lost respect for people who didn't respect themselves. If she screwed up, he would no doubt be the first to tell her that she had fucked up. He was also mature. Well compared to all of the other boys around her age. It was only a year difference but for teenagers, it was everything!

She couldn't wait to be back home.

**x-X-x**

Tears were falling. She was grateful that she was in the privacy of her own bedroom. This was something that no one was allowed to see. No one, especially not those she cared about such as her parents and Sasuke.

Definitely not Sasuke-kun as he was the one who had caused the tears to appear in the first place. Sakura was actually surprised she managed to hold on for as long as she did without showing the world how absolutely crushed she was when her Sasuke-kun called her pathetic and useless.

The second that the team meeting was over, for the first time, Sakura didn't ask the Uchiha clan heir for a date. The young girl instead sprinted home, faster than she ever had at training and dropped to her bed and started crying her eyes out.

She knew that both Sasuke-kun and Konohamaru were better than her. It was obvious by the fact that both of them received promotions to the rank of chunin whilst she did not. She wasn't burned by it all that much. Both Sasuke and Konohamaru came from two of Konoha's best clans and they were boys.

It was the amount that they were ahead that bothered the genin. With the invasion having just happened, Konoha needed all of its manpower. They couldn't keep Team Seven together which was what she wanted. She loved being a part of Team Seven.

When they did meet up though, it wasn't the same as Sakura remembered it. She quickly found out that she was the limiting factor on the team. It didn't matter how good the team work that Kakashi had drilled into them was, her individual ninja abilities were so far below Konohamaru and Sasuke's that the team was forced to only do C-rank missions. With the two boys having tested themselves on A-ranked missions in the past, They saw C-rank missions as a step down and weren't all that happy about it.

They never voiced their frustrations directly on her but it had been indirectly said once or twice. It made her feel like crap and she didn't want to hear it but there was a nagging thought in the back of her mind that they were right. She was weak. She was woefully weak.

_Even Ino is much stronger than me now. She even got promoted to chunin and is now one of the daimyo's guard._

Whilst there was the thought that she had gotten the position because she was a clan heir and her sensei was one of the former guards, Sakura assumed that her rival in love had to be good to get the chance.

All of the people that she had thought she was equal to during the academy now seemed like they were a million miles in front of her. She was lagging behind badly. She was the injured hind led that the dog had to drag along the ground.

_Sasuke said I was weak, pathetic and useless. That I had never contributed anything to any mission ever. If he realises just how much Ino has improved and is a good ninja, then I will have no chance in winning his heart._

_I have to do something about this! I have to become a stronger ninja, for Sasuke's sake! Piggy won't stand a chance when I am done training!_

* * *

**Author's Note:**

This chapter was a bit of filler depending on your interpretation of the word. I thought i would give Sakura a bit of time since she is a main character in canon but I don't have any immediate plans for her.


	19. Make a change

Sitting in what was formerly land of the Senju compound was a blonde haired teenager. Naruto Uzumaki couldn't help but marvel at everything around him. When Jiraiya mentioned that he bought ten acres off of pristine land off of the Senju clan, he did not expect to find a temple on the land.

Despite the ruined state it was in, all of the masks inside that Naruto had come to learn about were still perfectly intact. As far as Naruto was concerned, that was all that mattered as buildings could easily be replaced but the heirlooms of the nearly extinct clan could not.

Naruto looked on at the wall that formerly housed the masks of the Uzumaki Clan Temple. Today was the last day in which this temple would still stand. As much as loved learning about the history of the Uzumaki temple, Naruto could tell that it was in dire need of repairs.

The chunin got a civilian engineer to come out and have a look at the structural integrity of the building and unfortunately for his bank account, it was the worst possible outcome. The temple was barely staying up and one giant storm could spell the end for it. There were already pillars of wood which were cracked, water leaks in the ceiling and a termite infestation. As much as Naruto would have loved to keep the original building as a reminder of the history his clan, he couldn't.

He instead had two options. Option one was knockdown the temple and build it again to look exactly like the original. Option two would also entail knocking down the temple but it differed by using a new design. In the end, Naruto decided that he would like to build the new temple with a newer design.

Getting up, Naruto did one final tour of the derelict temple and made sure that there was nothing left remaining that was worth keeping. All of the scrolls on fuinjutsu which Naruto made a point to remember to read upon were removed and now it was time.

"Katon: Gōka Messhitsu (Fire Style: Great Fire Destruction)" Naruto chanted out as he did all seven hand seals. Naruto's knowledge and execution of the technique was still in its infancy. It was after all one of Madara Uchiha's signature fire jutsus after all. He was very grateful to his friend Sasuke for letting him learn look into the fire release techniques of the Uchiha clan. With them having set the standard on what a competent katon user should look like, Naruto couldn't think of a better place to learn about his element.

The blue eyed boy knew that it wasn't combat ready due to the amount of time it took to prepare the attack. Any competent ninja who was verging on jonin or above would easily be able to take advantage of the time it took for Naruto to set it up. _Give me some time though_… Naruto smirked.

Naruto watched as the temple was burnt down to the ground; it wasn't too long before the two colleagues that Naruto had just done a mission with who happened to be decent suiton users quickly went through hand seals of their own. The nearby stream running on the right hand side of the temple had water fly up into the air and douse the flames.

"Thanks guys! This means a lot." Naruto said before the two ninjas headed off home. Naruto knew he could do the rest in clearing the site with his rudimentary doton knowledge. Tomorrow was the day in which the plans he had received from the architect were set in motion.

Thankfully for Naruto he actually had the funds to do it. The money he had saved from the sponsorship deal, the money he had persuaded Gato to part way with and also the money he was getting back from his investment into Wave Country was getting put to good use.

As much as Naruto's would have liked to not have help from anyone else, that was not the case. The restoration of the temple was dependant on the help of Jiraiya financing the deal. Despite Naruto having saved up an impressive $50,000 by leaving extremely frugally, it was still nowhere near enough to finance the $500,000 cost for the temple. In came the owner of the Icha Icha franchise with an interest free loan.

The blonde didn't enjoy hand outs and despite his godfather offering to pay for everything, Naruto wouldn't except it. The best he managed to haggle Jiraiya down to was only having to pay half of the loan and that was interest free with no time limit. For Naruto, this was a huge amount of money. For Toad Sannin, it was merely a drop in the ocean. He was a self made multi-millionaire; with Naruto being his godson, he finally had someone to spend the money on that he felt was worth spending the money on. When he shelled out $10,000,000 to buy a third of the Senju compound for Naruto, he saw it as a present for Naruto, the fact that he also wiped out all of Tsunade's debt didn't mean anything to Jiraiya, after all, she was the one who put herself in that position by gambling in the first place!

In addition to Naruto getting a loan from his godfather, he also got to move into his godfather's apartment in the inner city; an area which had a much higher cost of living, free of charge. All he had to do was make sure the place was clean for the few times which Jiraiya came back to Konoha.

**x-X-x**

"It's good to be back home isn't Ino-chan?" Choji questioned to his sister in all but blood. As they were representing the fire lord today, they were dressed in their best clothes. Choji was wearing the battle armour of his clan. Ino was wearing a dark purple kimono with her clan's symbol on the back. This wasn't uncommon for people who worked with her on a daily basis. What was different though was that her wasn't in a variation of a pony tail. Instead, it was let down and curled immaculately. She had definitely put effort into her appearance this morning.

"Definitely Choji-kun, I can't wait to see all of our family and friends. I hope Naruto isn't on any mission out of the village at the moment." The blonde beauty replied. Her teammate noticed that Naruto was mentioned separately there. _Hmm, I wonder if there is something there or it is just her flirty personality?_

The duo followed down the path towards Konoha. They could make out the gate guards and the emotions intensified. They were finally home for the first time in six months. Waiting for the daimyo and by proxy Ino and Choji was interim leader of Konoha and the two advisors they had been briefed by.

_It was wishful thinking_ Ino thought to herself. She couldn't wait until she saw Naruto again, she knew she looked damn good and the blonde haired girl couldn't wait to see the blushing mess that he would be rendered to when he saw her for the first time.

"Welcome to Konoha, I hope your trip was a pleasant one Daimyo-sama?" Danzo questioned as he gave a short bow. Homura and Koharu did the same thing.

"Indeed it was Danzo-san, I am eager to see the outcome of my visit to Konoha." Akira mentioned with a small grin on his face. It was not every day that you got to see a new Hokage being crowned.

Danzo nodded. "Yes, I doubt many trips would hold quite as much significance as what this one does. If you would oblige, I will take you to the Hokage tower where we can discuss how tomorrow will be run."

The fire daimyo agreed and then followed the veteran war hawk to the tower. Both Ino and Choji couldn't help but wonder what it was that their boss was here for. They hadn't been briefed at all so it was their best guess as to what it could be.

_The only thing I can think of is given our situation, we may possibly be here for a new Hokage to be crowned. I wonder who it could be? Maybe Asuma-sensei? _Ino thought to herself.

"Ino-san, Choji-san, you are relieved from your duties for the time being, I will send a request for you when you need to return." Akira said, knowing that the two teenagers desperately wanted to see their respective families for the first time in six months. Both Ino and Choji couldn't help but grin and immediately used the body flicker jutsu to head off home.

**x-X-x**

"So Danzo-san, how has the interim position of Hokage been treating you?" Akira said, once they arrived into the Hokage's office; silencing seals activated.

"It has been well Daimyo-sama however I don't Hiruzen who had to do it for multiple decades." Danzo definitely wasn't going to mention the fact that he didn't have the jonin support as they knew of his past. Because of this, he had a difficult time being interim Hokage no less.

"I can imagine it would get tiring. I wonder how whoever out of the three boys gets the position will handle it?" Akira probed, curious as to how the chunin were going.

"Regardless, if they want the position, they will have to handle it. I suspect it will be harder for Konohamaru to handle though as he is very hyperactive compared to the others. So I believe we shall get started then? I have three essays written, which one would you like to read first?" Danzo questioned, holding out the papers in front of the man in front of him.

Having heard a fair bit about Choji and Ino's teammate Naruto as well as meeting the boy himself, Akira decided to save that for later. He was curious as to the other competitors for the position of Hokage were like.

_What the position of Hokage entails and means to me  
Sasuke Uchiha._

As the daimyo read the paper in front of him, he was impressed with the quality; the punctuation and grammar was flawless. It was obvious that this candidate had a privileged upbringing. A few good points were raised in that since it was a military village, they needed to increase their strength to prevent future events like the Sand invasion from happening again. He was particularly impressed when Sasuke discussed the need for better internal security, using his own experiences during the Uchiha massacre to highlight how internal threats were more dangerous than external threats.

On the other hand, he couldn't help but notice that there was not that much of a focus on protecting the civilians who made up the majority of the population in the village. The same people who provided the economy for the military village to run. Overall, Akira thought it was a good essay at 3,500 words.

"I get the impression Sasuke is quite driven to make Konoha the strongest village but he doesn't mention anything about how he is going to do that."

"I agree with Sasuke in that Konoha is not in the position it was previously and we need to increase the effectiveness of our military. We will be surrounding whoever the choice may be with trusted and experienced advisors who we able to guide Sasuke to making the correct decisions." Danzo diplomatically stated. He didn't want to state any personal preference. He wanted to see what Akira's was first before stating his own.

"I see, can you please hand me the next one."

_Why I would be the best Hokage just like my grandfather!  
Konohamaru Sarutobi_

"Is this all of it?" the daimyo questioned with a frown on his face. Just from a glance, Akira estimated that there was only 500 or so words on the two pages. It left a lot to be desired. He seriously doubted that such a small word count was going to be enough to adequately cover the scope of the essay required.

"Like Sasuke, he talks about making Konoha more powerful but there is no mention as to how he is going to go about this. He does specifically mention the will of fire and how he cares for the village which is great however, the amount of spelling mistakes and poor grammar make it hard to read.

"Yes, there is no questioning the loyalty and the love that Konohamaru has for the village."

Seeing that Danzo wasn't going to mention anything more, Akira asked for the final paper which was Naruto's.

_What is required from the next Hokage to provide stability and prosperity to the population of Konoha over the next decade  
Naruto Uzumaki_

"I can already tell that this one is going to take longer than Sasuke's paper will take to read." Akira mentioned in an impressed tone of voice. If he had to guess, it was at least double, if not triple the size of Sasuke's report.

_It is in Konoha's best interest to not require such a heavy reliance on individual brilliance from its shinobi. The major reason why Konoha has been on the top of the food chain the since the warring clan era is because it has had a higher level of excellence from the one per cent of elite shinobi in comparison to other villages. As a village, we rely heavily on individual quality to win crucial battles whilst we preach team work? Why is this?_

_This is because Konoha's education curriculum at the academy is flawed. It puts too much emphasis on ninja training to be done by shinobi clans and jonin-sensei. This puts children who are either orphaned or come from a civilian background at a severe disadvantage. Whilst there is definitely merit to having a similar education to the civilian sector with ninja training thrown on top, I believe that it is paramount that there is a redevelopment of the curriculum to evenly split time to shinobi training and civilian training._

_Through my own and several others anecdotal experience, there is more value to having multiple teachers' teaching a subject that they specialise in, rather than having one teacher be who is a jack of all trades. This would mean for the skillsets that aren't related to ninja training, we would have civilian teachers teach the students. The university level education taught in the civilian school system would be beneficial for academic achievement as well as bring a new perspective to the shinobi education system._

Akira was blown away by the level of thought and detail that went into the passage that he had just read. It was clear to him that Naruto had thought about this significantly and also provided evidence to back up his opinions.

It was one of the first topics that Naruto had talked about in his essay and he was eager to read more.

_There is also room for improvement in the organizational structure of Konoha. A lot of the administration and running is not running as efficiently as it could be. We have shinobi in positions that are in positions that don't utilize their skillset. Why should a shinobi who doesn't have any experience in running a company's financials be placed in the budgeting section of the military? The position is one that has no requirement for the manipulation of chakra so why are we employing someone in that role which could be better served out in the field?_

_As a village, we provide training to shinobi on how to manage money so why couldn't we collaborate with the Konoha University and add a few courses to the degree in the areas that would be required for them to work in military as a civilian. This would provide Konoha with the potential to have higher quality employees producing better results than if we limit our selection pool to only those who have access to their chakra who don't specialise in the area in which they are employed._

If he was impressed beforehand, Akira was gobsmacked now. Having never seen something like this before, it was a ground breaking suggestion that Naruto was making. It was no secret that in shinobi villages, there was always a disconnect between shinobi and civilians. Akira was a firm believer in a more collaborative populace would provide a better environment for the village.

He agreed with Naruto in the thought some civilians could do some military jobs better than some ninjas. It was something that he would definitely support if Naruto became the Hokage. Akira then went on to read the rest of Naruto's 10,000-word report which he was thoroughly impressed by.

"Well there is definitely someone leading at the moment. So far, it is Naruto's position to lose."

**x-X-x**

Admiring the efforts of labour was Naruto. He was impressed with the amount of work done on the first day. He could already see the foundations being laid and could easily picture the temple. He hoped that his mum was proud of what he was doing to restore the clan.

Hearing a noise from behind, Naruto immediately turned around and spotted someone who he hadn't seen a six months. She was wearing a dark purple kimono which had white trimming. The blonde hair was even longer than what it used to be and it was out of its pony tail. Naruto couldn't help but stare at his teammate.

He was not the only one doing that as Ino was also taking in the appearance of her former teammate. Naruto due to working on the temple all day was only in a pair of compression shorts that stopped just above the knee. The Yamanaka easily noticed that Naruto had put on a considerable amount of muscle over the past six months.

"Naruto-kun…" Ino said, the first to break the ice, having not spoken to one another since the fight. She noticed Naruto's eyes give their judgement on her body and it sent shivers down her spine.

"Ino-chan… you look stunning." He whispered as he slowly walked towards her. She quickly mirrored Naruto and they found themselves within touching distance. "I'm sorry for the way I acted, I just didn't want to lose the closest thing I have ever had to a family."

Tears started forming down the face of the proud clan heiress. "And I never meant to say you wouldn't understand what its like to leave family behind Naruto. You're right. We are family!"

Naruto couldn't help it. The second he saw tears streaming down Ino's makeup clad face he enveloped his best female friend in a big hug. This only further served to let the tears come out at a rapid rate. She quickly wrapped her smaller arms around Naruto and returned the embrace, resting her head in the crook of his neck.

"Damn these tears!" Ino whined as she broke from the hug wiping her eyes. Naruto was confused for a second until Ino continued speaking. "It's ruined all of my makeup. I probably look like one horrendous!"

Never had Naruto been so quick to reply! "NO! Ino-chan, you look amazing! I don't care if your makeup is running off of your face or not even on at all. To me, you will always be my Ino-chan!" Naruto stared with intensity into the eyes of the blue eyed girl.

_My Ino-chan… oooh Naruto, that's a dangerous thing to say. That could get a girl to fall for you _The Yamanaka couldn't help but stare into the eyes of Naruto. She saw the fire and the passion in which he stated what he believed to be fact.

A smirk appeared on her face. "My Ino-chan huh Naruto-kun? Are you trying to insinuate something or what?" She said with a smirk on her face.

Spluttering, Naruto didn't know what to say as he realised the context his words could be taken. "… Fuck you!" was the best that he could come up with. With all the blood that rushed to his face, it left little in his brain to think of a smartass response, something which he was normally known for.

"Wow Naruto-kun, propositioning me with that already! And yet you haven't even wined and dined me? That's a bold strategy cotton, let's see how it pays off." This time laughter accompanied the blonde haired girl.

"You witch."

"Yeah but I'm your witch aren't I Naruto-kun?" a flirty smile graced the face of Ino as she stared into the eyes of her former teammate. That completely went away and was replaced by butterflies in her stomach and her heart beating a thousand times a second when Naruto stared into her eyes. The fact that he was still holding onto her body in a tight embrace only further served to emphasize this.

"I've missed you Ino-chan." Naruto said with a small smile as he gazed into the blonde's eyes. The raw emotion was on show for all to see.

"I-i-I mis-missed you too." _Fuck me! I'm acting like Hinata! No one makes the sultry Ino like this! _

"Aww cat got your tongue? Is that a blush I see?" The Uzumaki questioned which only further served to make the blush even more pronounced.

"Screw you Naruto-kun!"

"Oh you wish Ino-chan and don't think I haven't noticed your hands moving over my back."

_Well can you blame me!? You are almost freaking naked! And muscly, so very muscly…_

Thinking quickly, Ino put her foot behind Naruto's and pushed, causing the blonde haired chunin to fall on his back. Not resting, Ino pounced and pinned Naruto beneath her. Every emotion she saw in his eyes, made her feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

Naruto, wanting to get revenge, tipped the scales and flipped the two of them so that he was on top. He had also grabbed her hands and pinned them above her head. If Ino's heart rate wasn't high enough previously, it was definitely racing now.

The distance between their faces was slowly closing. Without thinking, in a brief moment, Naruto pressed his lips onto Ino's in a chaste kiss; the ramifications of how this could potentially damage their friendship beyond repair was not even considered.

When the kiss was broken, Ino looked into her former teammate's eyes. She noticed fear, attraction but not a desire to say that he was sorry for his actions. Liking the feeling of having Naruto's lips pressed on hers, she returned the favour.

It was the start of elongated make out session before Naruto turned over and lay down on the ground next to Ino. He quickly pulled her to rest a top of his chest, not that she minded it one bit.

"So how was your time in the capital?" Naruto questioned, eager to hear about what she had been up to.

"It's been great!" Ino said animatedly. "Both Choji and myself have improved a lot as shinobi. I bet we could give you a run for your money one on one!" a small smirk appeared on her face as she finished her statement.

"What, you think I have just been sitting still doing nothing? I've also been improving as a shinobi. You don't get muscles like this without training hard!" At this point Naruto flexed his chest muscles which Ino was lying on.

"Oh yeah, what about these muscles?" Ino said as he propped herself up and flexed her biceps.

_She's really changed from the girl who hated the thought of being 'bulky' its obvious she cares about her appearance but doesn't let that come in the way of her shinobi career._

"Can't see any since they are covered up by your kimono."

"Well how about this then?" Ino said as she rolled up the sleeves to the shoulders. Naruto could clearly see definition and mass in her arms and was impressed.

"It's chilly!" Ino called out to which Naruto grinned.

"Well come back down here." He said whilst patting his chest. When Ino arrived on his chest, he immediately started channelling katon chakra into his body, heating it up. "What can I say? I am a natural furnace."

"You definitely are my furnace." The Yamanaka girl said with a smile on her face as she snuggled into Naruto.

As far as the Uzumaki was concerned, this was one of the best feelings he had ever experienced and he didn't want it to end.

**x-X-x**

As much as he didn't want the night to end, he knew that it had to. Today was a very significant day. He knew that he would need a minimum of eight hours sleep to be at his fighting best. Every preparation was made for the fifteen-year-old. A new Hokage would be crowned today and over the past half a year, Naruto had come to the decision that he wanted the title.

He wanted to protect Konoha, he wanted to make sure that the village he called home prospered. He wanted the prestige that came with the title. He wanted the money that came with the role. Most importantly though, out of the three chunin vying for the title, Naruto believed that he was the best person for the role. He honestly didn't feel as if he could respect Konohamaru despite the friendship they had formed over the past few months.

Sasuke, he could respect a little bit more but he wondered whether or not the Uchiha would put the village first or his own ambitions in killing Itachi. If he took the position, he doubted that Sasuke would be allowed to go out in search of the missing ninja.

He was couldn't wait for today to be over, regardless of the decision. He had spent the past six months of his life, dedicating himself to this goal and he wanted this to be over. Naruto wanted to progress onto bigger and better things.

**x-X-x**

Sitting in the council chambers were both the civilian council and the representatives that made up the shinobi council. They had all of the evidence in front of them and it was time to go through it and collate. At the end of this meeting, a new Hokage would be decided.

All three candidates had put forth their case to become the next Hokage of Konoha. They had completed the written exam on Konoha, completed multiple missions leading up to today, performed in a mock fight in front of the shinobi council and also had a politics exam with the daimyo, bartering on prices of missions.

"So, let's get this started shall we." The daimyo mentioned with the attention of everyone in the room, solely on him. "I will let Shikaku-san, as the Jonin Commander proceed with the military evaluation."

"Thank you Daimyo-sama. I will begin by saying that all three of the chunin have progressed immensely over the past six months. If the rank of jonin was based solely on ninja ability, I would recommend all of them to attend the jonin exam."

"Now, Konohamaru Sarutobi is an exemplary ninja in pure combat ability. His ability to use all fire elements proficiently is nothing short of amazing for someone his age. Being able to put Kakashi on the back foot in a ninjutsu battle is definitely impressive. He has the chakra reserves to power jutsu after jutsu. The only person who I have seen perform this better for all elements is his grandfather Sandaime-sama. His bojutsu with the staff is fairly proficient but it is definitely at a lower level compared to the ninjutsu standard he set. As can be expected with a jinchuuriki, his ability in genjutsu is next to non-existent but he has the ability to detect and dispel with little trouble."

"I agree with that assessment of Konohamaru but feel the need to mention that his taijutsu skill is quite lacking. It is a weak point that would easily be found out." Hiashi commented which Tsume also nodded towards.

"Also he never showed any usage of the Kyubi's chakra. Whilst that is a good sign for his abilities, it raises question marks as to how much he is able to control it." Inoichi added to the conversation.

Shikaku nodded. "True. We do have to take into consideration that Konohamaru is still a chunin and whilst his ninjutsu abilities are on the level of an elite jonin, there will be areas where he is not as skilled in. Also, with this potential appointment being a temporary one for 1 year, there is time for Konohamaru to focus on other areas of shinobi combat."

"Sasuke has exemplary kenjutsu skills, his ninjutsu is also to a high standard in being able to use two elements proficiently. I was particularly impressed with his variations of the chidori. Managing to hold his own in a kenjutsu spar with Yugao whilst getting hit by genjutsu from Kurenai is impressive.

"Sasuke is the all-round better shinobi, his weak points aren't as noticeable as Konohamaru's although his strengths aren't as strong either." Chouza mentioned.

"Naruto has elite jonin level taijutsu. Naruto was able to stand on the same level as Gai without weights but no gates opened. His ninjutsu is also impressive. Whilst his ability in the doton element is lacking compared to Sasuke's ability with his secondary affinity, his control over the fire element is extraordinary. He also has chunin level knowledge of fuinjutsu, something which is quite hard to master."

Having heard of all of the reports from Shikaku, the daimyo then took control of the meeting once more. "So, if there was another invasion to happen tomorrow, which shinobi would you have the most confidence in their abilities?"

Hiashi was the first to speak up. "Naruto." A few members of the shinobi council chuckled. It was no secret that with Hiashi being the head of the Hyuga clan, he had preferences to taijutsu users over ninjutsu. "The combination of his bloodline and his ninjutsu is significant. The speed in which he fights at is something that is very hard to combat. There's no point having access to every ninjutsu ever created if you can't hit your opponent with it. Also, with the Ichibi gathering chakra over the stadium, his knowledge in fuinjutsu"

"Konohamaru. His ability with ninjutsu is simply too hard to ignore. Being able to use all five elements is something remarkable for anyone, let alone someone his age. The fuinjutsu knowledge isn't a requirement however as we can just get Jiraiya to handle that." Tsume stated.

"Sasuke. Whilst Naruto is proficient in fuinjutsu which is not that common, I believe that Sasuke is the most well rounded candidate on offer due to having high skills in close, medium and long range. Also, the Sharingan has the potential to control bijuu which would be helpful with the Ichibi"

"They all have combat abilities required to be a jonin and due to their respective ages, there is more than enough time to work on improving their abilities. We may need to keep Jiraiya around for the next year a bit more frequently as a threat to other villages whilst we train the Hokage to be an S-class shinobi." Shikaku stated, essentially stating that the combat skills of all three was satisfactory for a Hokage.

The daimyo nodded in earnest. "Okay, so now we move onto the academic exam… I trust that everyone here has read the essays of the three candidates?" without seeing anyone interject, Akira continued speaking. "Would anyone like to comment first?"

The CEO of one of Konoha's banks spoke up. "It seems to me that Konohamaru spent all of his time focusing on the fighting aspect of being the Hokage whilst neglecting the academic portion and potentially others. In contrast to this, I was thoroughly impressed with the level of detail and thought that Naruto put into his. I am particularly interested in seeing some of his topics play out if he takes the position."

With the amount of agreement on show from the civilian sector, Danzo smirked. It was clear to him that Naruto had won the favour of the civilian side of the council. Whilst they did not have much say in the choice of the Hokage, they had significant power in the approval ratings of the Hokage once they were in office.

Most of the shinobi from his vantage point also held Naruto in high regard. To those who had yet to meet the chunin, first impressions mattered. His essay on how to improve Konoha, regardless of if he was Hokage showed that he cared about the interests of the village and had put much forethought into it.

"Yes, I must say that I was very impressed with the amount of effort that Naruto put into his essay. Sasuke's on the other hand was good and Konohamaru's… well the less said the better. I'm not too sure he fully realises the amount of paperwork he will have to deal with if he gets the position. I believe he would be much better suited out in the field." Inoichi commented to which several clan heads nodded in agreement.

Akira took a bit of time before speaking. "I see. Danzo-san, do you agree?" Jiraiya had his attention solely on the war hawk and was eager to heat what he sad to say.

Noticing that everyone had his eyes, he paused for a second to make sure he articulated himself the exact way he wanted to, "He is definitely a talented shinobi and has the ability to perform great feats whilst on missions. His attention to detail is an area which has room for improvement and whilst we can teach him some of the soft skills required to be a diplomat, there is a certain innate skillset that you either have or don't which I don't believe that that Konohamaru has."

_I can't say that I disagree with that _Jiraiya thought to himself.

"Jiraiya, could you please offer a few words about the leadership abilities of each candidate?" Akira asked to which the Toad Sannin nodded.

"Sasuke is a chunin of few words but every word said has its merits. He isn't the type of person to give a rousing speech to boost morale. He does however boost morale simply by having the upmost confidence in his abilities as a ninja and being able to back that up. This is sometime to his detriment but overall he is a respectable leader.

Konohamaru has the innate natural charisma that very few people have. He is able to encourage those around him and get them to perform at levels above what they normally can. Strategy however is not his strong point and could use a few lessons from Shikaku when planning in advance but on the fly decision making, he is second to none. Overall, he is a good leader.

Naruto is not afraid to differ to those around him who possess a higher skillset compared to his own if it means completing the mission. He currently has a 100% successful completion rate of missions. This is something that he is very proud about. He is able to rally higher performances out of his shinobi and able to give morale boosting speeches, as seen during his display at the chunin exams." Jiraiya said. Frankly, he thought that all three, given enough time, would become highly competent leaders.

"Ahh yes! I remember Naruto-san leading his team to protect myself, my granddaughter and our entourage to the safe house of the Sarutobi compound. I was very impressed with his ability that day. He wasn't afraid to talk harshly to myself to ensure the completion of the mission."

Danzo couldn't help but smirk as he watched everything play out. If there was one thing that he liked, it was everything going according to plan. It was clear to see that Naruto had the full support of the daimyo.

The rest of the discussion as to who would become the next Hokage would take place over 4 hours. After the introduction was handled, they delved further into the specifics of each skillset that was getting graded Akira propped the paper in front of him on the table as a smile appeared on his face. "So after all that, we have agreed that Godaime Hokage of Konoha shall be Uzumaki Naruto!"


	20. And breakaway

"Naruto Uzumaki, you are hereby summoned to the Hokage's office." The member of the ANBU stated as he answered the door. "You have ten minutes before you are required to be there." The ANBU officer mentioned before vanishing in a body flicker.

The chunin grinned. Today was the day that he was going to find out whether or not all of his hard work over the past six months. He was quietly confident in his abilities. Whilst Konohamaru may be slightly better in terms of combat, due to abusing the shadow clone learning technique, Naruto didn't believe that he had any of form of diplomatic skills whatsoever.

Sasuke, he thought that their combat skills were even, maybe favouring him slightly and he also thought that he had slightly higher diplomatic skills. He hoped that the people making the decision could also see what he believed.

Naruto hopped in the shower and then proceeded to make himself presentable. He was wearing a faded light red kimono top with black trimming. The Uzumaki clan symbol was proudly displayed on the back of Naruto's kimono. He finished off the look with a pair of black pants and black shinobi sandals.

It was one of his better outfits and he was taking a calculated risk as he didn't want to ruin the clothes were expensive. With everything set, Naruto made his way over to the Hokage tower.

**x-X-x**

When he arrived in the room , Naruto found himself greeted by several clan heads, Jiraiya, Danzo and the daimyo. He quickly bowed to the distinguished guests. The blonde haired ninja happened to notice that Both Konohamaru and Sasuke were not in the room. He wasn't too sure if this was because they were late or something else… the heart rate of Naruto raised with the hope that it was because he was here to accept the position.

With a smile on his face, Akira Tokugawa who was standing beside the Hokage's desk started the conversation. "Naruto Uzumaki, it is with great pleasure that I am able to offer you the position of Godaime Hokage of Konoha." Akira said a few things after that but to be completely honest, it wasn't something that Naruto paid attention to.

Ever since hearing that his father was the former Hokage of Konoha, the desire to become the next one drived Naruto along with the promise of riches. To hear that he was getting the offer was something that was surreal and he struggled to comprehend all of it. It was as if all of his goals in life were coming true. He wanted to become a powerful ninja and all of the attention that comes along with that. He wanted to gain wealth to the point where he could live his life however he wanted.

With the promotion to the rank of Hokage, everything that he ever wanted was so close within reach. "I accept."

"That is great Naruto-san. If you would please overlook this contract and then sign it, we will then proceed with the inauguration process." The daimyo stated, ushering Naruto to the Hokage desk.

Naruto didn't waste much time sitting down in the desk which he took in. He stared out the window at the village and suddenly, fear built up inside him. It was only now, that he was being tasked with. One million people's lives were suddenly under his protection. He had the responsibility to ensure that One million people not only survived but also prospered. Turning around, Naruto looked into the eyes of the two people crucial for his development as a shinobi, being Jiraiya and Danzo. The chunin saw the looks of pride in Jiraiya's eyes and also the confidence in Danzo's. Naruto could tell that they fully believed that he was the best person for the job.

He couldn't let them down! He couldn't let Ino and the rest of Team 10 down! He couldn't let Konoha and the memory of his parents down!

Renewed vigour coursed through Naruto as he now looked down at the legally binding document. The first things that he noticed was that there was no annual leave or sick leave. You were expected to fulfil the obligations of your position every minute of every day. There were no off days.

The $500,000 a year salary made up for it though. The site of that made Naruto's eyes nearly bug out of his head. It was a significant step up. Sure, he knew that Jiraiya had spent 10 million to buy the new Uzumaki compound off of the Senjus but That was his godfather's money, Not his. This however, was entirely his and it was a reward for all of the hard work that he had put in over the years.

That wasn't even the best bit! Naruto read that this was a probation period contract. It was for a year and if his performances weren't up to the level required, Konoha would be able to remove him from his position and fill it with someone else. Once it became official and he was no longer on a probationary period, his salary would rise by 5 per cent each year.

After finishing reading the rest of the contract in explicit detail, Naruto picked up the pen beside the paper. Before he started signing the paper, Jiraiya spoke up. "Naruto, before you sign that, let me speak for a second." Seeing that he had his godson's attention, Jiraiya continued. "If you would like, you can sign the paper as Naruto Namikaze and change your name over. When Konoha hears about it, it will help win over a few people."

Naruto thought about it. "Thanks Jiraiya-sensei, I don't think I will however though. I have had the surname Uzumaki throughout my life and it has served me well and I want to restore the name of prestige of my clan rather than start a new one. The advice on name dropping who dad is a good idea and I will use that in my inauguration speech to help win over a few of the harder people."

With that said, Naruto signed the contract as Naruto Uzumaki. It was now official, the new Godaime Hokage of Konoha was Naruto Uzumaki.

**x-X-x**

Within moments of Naruto being appointed the Hokage of Konoha, he was already getting down to business. The first matter of discussion was the reformation of the Ichibi. It was scheduled to happen in the anywhere six months to eighteen months and it appeared as if it was going to take place right above the colosseum. There wasn't a specific date but it was believed it would happen one year after the date of Gaara's death.

"Jiraiya-sensei, you will need to be around that day as we will seal it into a shinobi. Currently our military position is significantly weakened due to the invasion and the alternative of sealing the bijuu into a vase or something like that seems like a waste."

"Gotcha kiddo. I can do that fairly easily, now who do you plan on sealing it in?"

Naruto thought on it for a moment. "I believe that it is best that the child comes from a ninja family. That way, they can help provide a stable environment and notice chakra related issues a lot earlier than a civilian family could. From what I have read, normally the person chosen to be a jinchuuriki is related the reigning Kage's family to ensure loyalty to the village but is a problem since I have no remaining family…" Naruto pondered, yet to have thought of a solution.

"If I may suggest Hokage-sama, my grandson is two years away from graduating from the academy. He is a loyal shinobi like myself and preaches how much he desires to protect Konoha. You could seal the bijuu into him and then become his sensei when he graduates the academy to ensure loyalty to the village." Danzo, ever the opportunist said after spotting an opening. After all, making plays after Naruto got the role was the whole reason why he did this in the first place.

Balking at this idea, Jiraiya quickly spoke up. "Hang on a second there, there are plenty of other candidates that are loyal to the village and come from shinobi backgrounds. Also, emotions are a critical part the ability to gain access and control the chakra of the tailed beast inside them." Jiraiya had to be careful. Naruto still held affection for one of his sensei's and he didn't want to force an ultimatum.

He couldn't let Naruto become the puppet of Danzo!

Naruto noticed the barb thrown in about emotions but chose to ignore it. "What about his age? I have heard that there are issues, the older the recipient of the demon is. How can we get around that?" the newly minted Hokage questioned, trying to cover all bases.

Internally, Danzo grinned. He was glad that Naruto didn't immediately dismiss the idea. That fact that he was considering it was a foot in the door. "Tsunade-san has been away from the village for over a decade, doing who knows what. Hiruzen gave her a free pass to leave the village. She never formally retired as a shinobi so she is effectively a rogue ninja. If she were to come back to the village, she would greatly help with the creation of a new jinchuuriki. Also, with you becoming the new Hokage, a lot of the world is going to be questioning how strong you are. A fourth shinobi world war will potentially break out. We don't have the luxury of putting the bijuu into an infant as they could be a serious liability.

Jiraiya honestly couldn't say anything in defence of his former teammate. He knew that Sarutobi-sensei had been extremely lenient over Tsunade and now with Naruto in charge who had no emotional connection to the lady, it was time for her to face the music of her decisions. He also agreed fully with Danzo that making Naruto the Hokage of Konoha would shake up the Elemental Nations and he wasn't sure how the world was going to react.

"I see. Regardless of whatever happens in regards to the decision of the Jinchuuriki situation, I am ordering Tsunade to come back to Konoha. Jiraiya-sensei, I am giving you full blessing for you to use whatever means necessary to bring her back to Konoha. If need be, Use force. You are the best person for the job."

"Alright Gaki… this should be interesting hehe. She ain't going to like that."

Naruto merely shrugged his shoulders. "I don't care. Bring her to me then and I will have a chat with her.

Also, Danzo-sensei, can you please provide a report of current academy students that fit the criteria from all ages and state the pros and cons for becoming a jinchuuriki." It was clear to those in the room that Naruto was taking this with the upmost earnestness.

"As you command Hokage-sama."

**x-X-x**

When he heard the news that he was not going to be selected become the Hokage, Sasuke strangely enough wasn't all that bothered by it. If he was completely honest with himself, he saw the position of Hokage as a pretty bad one. For the goals that he needed to accomplish in life, holding the title of Hokage went against them. All he ever saw of the Sandaime Hokage was him sitting behind his desk and doing paperwork. If he became the Hokage then it was pretty much certain that he would have to do the same thing.

Whilst he was busy with paperwork, Itachi was out there getting stronger. He couldn't be stuck behind a desk all day!

Being a candidate for the role of Hokage definitely had some benefits though. If Sasuke was completely honest with himself, if it wasn't for being selected for this six months ago, he would have taken up the offer of the sound ninjas in defecting to Orochimaru and the sound village.

He didn't though and he was glad that he hadn't. He didn't want to become like Itachi and be a missing ninja. Sasuke wanted to make the Uchiha clan return to their former glory.

And it was all thanks to the amount of hard work he had put in over the past six months. Compared to what had happened in the previous six months before the chunin exams which he had learnt pretty much nothing, it was quite the opposite for the young Uchiha clan heir.

He had gone from low chunin taijutsu, low to mid chunin ninjutsu, genin genjutsu and no kenjutsu whatsoever to high chunin taijutsu, low jonin ninjutsu, high chunin genjutsu and high chunin, bordering on jonin level kenjutsu.

He had to thank the multitude of sensei's over the recent months as he knew that if it wasn't for them, he would be nowhere near as strong as what he was now. Despite this, there was still much more room for improvement as far as the Uchiha special jonin was concerned.

Yes, despite not getting the rank of Hokage from being a candidate, he did get a promotion to Jonin. He was even informed that if he kept a similar rate of progress over the next six months again, he would become a fully fledged Jonin, something which Itachi never managed to accomplish. Sure, he may and been skilled enough to take the exam and pass with flying colours but it was something he never did as he was in the ANBU. It would be a source of pride for Sasuke if was able to do something that Itachi couldn't.

Sure, he was still a little bit salty over Naruto getting the position and not him but he didn't mind it all that much. Sasuke would have turned down the position after much thought; it was the reason why he didn't put that much effort into the diplomatic side of the process. The special jonin was grateful that it was Naruto and not Konohamaru that had received the position.

**x-X-x**

Whereas Sasuke was sitting down calmly taking the news that he wasn't going to become the Hokage, Konohamaru was on the other end of the spectrum. He was beyond frustrated at what he believed to be the wrong decision.

_Naruto isn't the best person to lead Konoha into the future! I am. He doesn't live and breathe the village like I do. All he cares about is money! He's hasn't had to go through any hardships like I have had with the Kyubi! He doesn't deserve it like I do. I'm even the grandson of the previous Hokage. If anyone was going to become the Hokage, it should have been me!_

As the internal monologue of Konohamaru went on, he went through jutsu after jutsu in the training ground. What he didn't notice was that during this time, he had already started accessing the Kyubi's chakra. Every jutsu that he was creating was becoming that much more potent.

"Konohamaru! You're accessing the Kyubi's chakra! Snap out of it!" Jiraiya mentioned, grabbing the attention of the Sarutobi boy. He immediately turned around, happy to find someone that he could vent to about this whole situation.

"Why did I get the role!? My ninjutsu is the best out of the three of us! I have the Kyubi backing me and I'm probably the strongest fighter." Konohamaru complained. Not that he had a fight with either Sasuke or Naruto going all out recently.

Jiraiya for his part was glad to see the change in colour in Konohamaru's eyes. "That is part of the reason why you didn't get the role gaki. The position of Hokage is more than just being a ninjutsu juggernaut. You spent all your time over the past six months learning more ninjutsu and becoming a stronger fighter, that you didn't pay much thought to the diplomatic side of being the Hokage. News flash kiddo, they are both just as important as one another, something that you should have picked up on given that Sarutobi-sensei was your grandfather.

"I get that you need to be good at politics to become the Hokage but those are skills that you can learn on the job! You can't protect your village if you aren't strong enough!" Konohamaru replied back, agitated.

"Protecting the village isn't one shinobi's responsibility brat… you can't be expected to protect the whole entire village by yourself, especially at this age. Just think brat, you have been out of the academy only for one year, you, Naruto or Sasuke are nowhere near the level when you can come close to doing what you just talked about. I have 35 years of training on top of you and I am still not at the point where I could single handily protect the village."

That kind of sobered up Konohamaru. Jiraiya continued on. "Look Konohamaru, even if Naruto doesn't work out as the Hokage, he is initially going to be on a temporary contract for the position meaning that if he isn't good enough in one year's time, he will be removed from the role and it will be up for grabs again." What the Toad Sannin didn't say was that he thought that Naruto was going to do a fine job and not get removed from the position.

Hearing this, it definitely lifted the spirits of the special jonin, Sarutobi Konohamaru perked up. "Really! Alright then Ero-Sennin what do you think I need to improve on the most to make sure that if Naruto Screws up, I am able to take his place!?"

Annoyed at the Ero-Sennin remark, Jiraiya spoke up. "Well to be honest, the areas that you excel in, you excel greater than what either Naruto or Sasuke do in their respective areas." As this filtered into his ears, Konohamaru couldn't help but smirk! That quickly changed however as Jiraiya continued speaking. "However, your weaknesses are far greater than those of Naruto or Sasuke, relative to the areas that you are weak in. You need to improve your taijutsu a fair bit, your genjutsu a large amount and also branch out into other areas, like say fuinjutsu, especially since you are a jinchuuriki."

The special jonin didn't like hearing that. The reason why he didn't train those as much was because he wasn't as good at those disciplines. They didn't come as naturally to him as Ninjutsu did! The special jonin also knew that if he mentioned this to his sensei, he would come off across as a petulant child.

"In addition, you drastically need to work on your diplomatic skills. I mean come on, that 500-word essay that you wrote was nothing, Naruto wrote a ten-thousand-word one." Konohamaru's faced morphed into a shocked expression when he heard this. _But I hate writing and all that crap!_

It was at this point that Konohamaru had a realisation. He had only ever been doing the fun stuff when it came to training to become the Hokage. He had never done the tasks that weren't fun or easy. _I've got to take this seriously! There had to be things that gramps hated doing that he knew that he had to do._

With Renewed Vigour, Konohamaru made a pact with himself that he was going to train in the areas that he wasn't good at. "Thanks Jiraiya-sensei, I have a lot to think about!" Konohamaru replied before using the body flicker jutsu

**x-X-x**

After his first official day as the Hokage, Naruto was finally able to leave work and go home and enjoy himself. With the inauguration happening tomorrow, there were three people he wanted to talk to this about before it was announced the to the public.

After organizing it with Chouza Akimichi, Naruto was able to book one of the private rooms in one of their famous restaurants, equipped with silencing seals, allowing for an intimate party.

Naruto was the first to arrive, dressed in a collared dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms and wearing a pair of light denim jeans, with a pair of leather shoes. The first person who arrived was his sensei Asuma Sarutobi. He was wearing a similar clothes to Naruto although he was wearing a collarless shirt.

"Hey sensei how's it going!? I have been fairly busy over the past few days so I haven't seen you as much as I would have liked." Naruto said with a bit of a frown.

"It's all good kid! If my hunch is correct, I don't see that changing any time soon." Asuma said with a smirk on his face. Although officially he didn't know the result, he was confident in his student that he would be able to take the job. After all, it said a lot about himself if he was the one who taught the Hokage.

"Yeah, things are going to be quite hectic for me from now on! The cool thing now though is that I get to be your boss and not the other way round!" The blonde haired teenager said with a smirk on his face.

"As if I would ever listen to you!? Come here you midget!" Asuma said before giving a hug to his student. He was immensely proud for what Naruto had accomplished.

"Thanks. I never could have achieved any of this if it wasn't for your help Asuma-sensei. If you didn't take a chance on me when a spot became available on your team, I doubt that I would have been able to even make the rank of chunin let alone what has happened over the past few months without your guidance and support." Naruto earnestly stated.

Asuma smiled. "I merely gave you the opportunity Naruto, you grasped it with both hands and made it your bitch. I'm proud of you."

Before the two could go on, two more people arrived into the booth. Ino Yamanaka walked I as if she owned the place, her confidence was that high. There was a bright smile on her face, which Naruto hoped was because of the night before. She was wearing a strapless satin red dress that flared out at the waist. The blonde who had hair down, much like last night wore a pair of matching red heels.

Naruto couldn't keep his eyes off Ino, Ino couldn't keep her eyes of Naruto. Both Choji and Asuma who were looking on knew that something had definitely happened between the two former teammates, they just didn't know what.

"Alright, before Naruto gets to talk about a few things, there's something that I want to say! Sit down you guys." Naruto quickly said hello to Choji and apologized for what happened six months ago before they left for the capital as he heard Asuma speak.

As they sat down, Choji and Asuma sat on one side of the booth whilst Naruto and Ino sat on the other side, something which they didn't mind at all. Ino even went so far as to grab a hold of Naruto's hand under the table. The blonde haired boy immediately squeezed back.

"Now due to the hectic events of the chunin exams, I never got to do something that I planned on doing." As the sensei of the former team 10 said this, he pulled out three small boxes. "

"These Earrings are all the exact same. They symbolize the fact that no matter what happens, you will always have a part of the team inside of you and that you are now officially, in the eyes of Konoha, adults."

"Thank you Asuma-sensei!" Choji mentioned with a big grin on his face. He immediately put the earrings in his pocket, making sure that he didn't lose them. Naruto did much the same thing. Ino on the other hand started changing them at the table, given that she was the only one who currently had her ears pierced.

Naruto was the next one to speak up. "Now there's a reason why I booked this room with the silencing seals instead of just a regular room." This got the attention of both Choji and Ino, they wanted to know what was so important. Ino especially as the self-appointed gossip queen of Konoha. "So tomorrow I'm going to be revealing what I say tonight to the public but I thought that it would be better to tell you guys first."

"Spit it out already…" Ino grumbled, her patience for hearing gossip was very tiny.

Naruto smirked at he looked at his friend…? He wasn't sure what to call her as they didn't really talk about it at all last night.

"Well I guess I'll get on with it then." Naruto said as he saw the Choji hanging off the edge of his seat. "I found out who my parents were."

Stunned silence came from his two former teammates. They knew that this was a sensitive topic for Naruto, they hoped it was positive. "How did it go?" Ino was the first person to ask, gripping Naruto's hand under the table. He paused for a second and stared into her eyes and smiled. He loved the fact that she really cared about him.

"It went well. I found out that they both died in the Kyubi attack and gave their lives to protect the village. My mother's name is Kushina Uzumaki which is where I got my name last name from as they didn't want me to have to suffer from my father's enemies coming after me."

"I'm sorry to hear that they have passed away Naruto." Choji, knowing how hard death was to deal with.

The blonde haired teenager smiled. "It's okay Choji, I know that if they were here, they would be proud of the person I became. My father, well you all know him as the guy with the face on the rock." Naruto said with a sheepish grin on his face. He didn't know how else to say it without it coming across as pompous.

It took half a second for Ino to realise what he meant. "Oh my god! I mean I always thought you looked similar but I never thought that that was because you're his son! Now that I know the relation, I can't believe that I didn't see it sooner!"

As Ino was saying this, Choji also realised who it was that Naruto was referring to. "Wow, so your father is the Fourth Hokage! I didn't expect that." Choji replied, not doubting for a second if what Naruto was saying was the truth.

"Yeah, I was pretty shocked when I found out. As it turns out, Kakashi-sensei was the one who told me." Both Ino and Choji knew how much Naruto wasn't a fan of Kakashi so it just went to show how much had changed. "The whole reason why he failed me was because he didn't want to train me as everyone that has ever been close to him has died. He didn't want his sensei's son to also suffer from the same fate. Frankly, I am pretty glad that he did that. If it wasn't for that decision, I wouldn't have ended up on team 10 and met you guys. You guys have changed my life for the better!" Naruto said, wearing his heart on his sleeve.

"Congratulations Naruto." Ino said whilst giving Naruto a hug from the side. He smiled and immediately returned it. He didn't want to let go.

"Yeah, so if you think that that is surprising, the new news that came about this morning will surprise you even more." Naruto boldly claimed. Both Choji and Ino who were listening on were surprised. Sure, they believed Naruto but they doubted that something could be as shocking as that.

Boy were they wrong! Naruto spoke up. "Straight after the chunin exams, they needed to decide on who the Hokage was going to be. In the end they couldn't decide on who it was going to be. That's why Danzo was the interim leader as the current ANBU commander. They made the decision that they would do a training program for three individuals and by the end of it, one of them would become the Hokage."

Despite where Naruto was leading the conversation, Ino refused to believe it. There was no way that the person who was a genin seven months ago was now going to become the Hokage. Choji was in the same boat. He seriously doubted that Naruto was the new Hokage of Konoha.

"I was one of the people in the competition thanks to my efforts in the chunin exams killing the former jinchuuriki of the Ichibi. I did well in all of the tests and officially, as of last night, I am the Godaime Hokage of Konoha."

Looks of disbelief quickly filtered onto the faces of Ino and Choji. They couldn't believe their teammate who they doubted became a jonin managed to jump straight from chunin to Kage. "Come on Naruto, don't bullshit with us. There's no way that you could of become the Hokage. I mean wouldn't they pick Asuma-sensei before you?" Ino questioned to which Choji nodded.

Whilst he knew that there would be scepticism from people, Naruto was a bit miffed that they believe him. "I'm serious, you can even ask Asuma-sensei about this! I was appointed the Hokage this morning and there will be a coronation tomorrow morning."

"Is he really telling the truth Asuma-sensei?" Choji questioned. If it was true, he would be extremely happy but it just seemed surreal that Naruto was going to become the most powerful man in Konoha.

"Yes Choji, Naruto will be sworn in tomorrow as the Godaime Hokage of Konoha." Asuma said whilst nodding. Even he found it a bit surreal.

"Wow, congratulations then Naruto! I reckon you will be a great Kage!" With a smile on his face, Choji offered a fist bump which Naruto readily returned.

"Thanks Choji, that really means a lot to me." Naruto, gratefully said.

"It is still so hard to wrap my head around you being the most powerful man in Konoha! Congratulations though Naruto, you have put in heaps of effort and you deserve every reward you get for it." Ino said before giving her blonde teammate yet another hug. This one was slightly longer than the last one. She really was proud of Naruto and all of his accomplishments.

There was one thing about Naruto becoming the Hokage of Konoha that didn't sit right with Ino and that was that Naruto was set to become the most eligible bachelor in the village. She didn't like the sound of that.

**x-X-x**

It finally dawned on Naruto as he was speaking about it with his teammates, that he was the Hokage of Konoha. He had so many lives in his hands. "Are you nervous about being the Hokage?" Ino quietly asked. Much like the night before, the two of them ended up cuddling on the green grass that made up the Uzumaki compound.

"I'm terrified." Naruto freely admitted in the privacy of his home. "I'm scared that every single minor mistake that I make is one that can lead to a family being ripped a part."

"For what it's worth Naruto, I truly believe that you will be a great Hokage. I think you care about those around you a lot and the village. I know that you are strong and a great shinobi, you're smart and you have a way with words would make a politician envy you. I know you will be amazing in the role Hokage-sama." Ino said with a massive smile on her face, she doubted that she could ever be happier than what she was in this point in time.

Staring into piercing blue eyes, Naruto melted. He didn't know what to say that would be equivalent to what Ino just said. With a few choice words, she got rid of all of his fears (at least for the moment) and filled him with the upmost confidence. So he settled on kissing her again. To be honest, he didn't really need a reason like the one he just had to kiss Ino.

Unlike the kisses from the night before, Ino noticed when Naruto opened his mouth slightly and grabbed onto his bottom and lightly bit on it before pulling it towards herself. "mmmhh" Naruto moaned into Ino's mouth, causing the platinum blonde to smirk, her teeth holding Naruto's bottom lip. Those magazines she read were definitely paying off.

The newly minted Hokage had also heard about tongue kissing. He pushed his tongue into Ino's mouth as far as he could, not fully sure what to do.

Ino quickly broke off the kiss. "Next time don't try and stick your tongue down the back of my throat. It's like you're trying to suffocate me."

Embarrassed at his lack of apparent kissing skills, Naruto tried to focus on the positives whilst remembering that tidbit for the future. "Next time?" Naruto questioned with an eager expression on his face. "How about now?" The boy questioned before placing his hand on the back of Ino's neck, underneath her hair. When he did this, Naruto essentially turned Ino into putty.

There were a few more "next times". Each time, both parties getting bolder in the roaming of hands across bodies.

"It's getting chilly Naruto-kun. I may need to get a jumper." Ino said, not wanting to make the night end. She was fairly confident that she would have to go back to the capital tomorrow and with Naruto being the Hokage, she doubted that he would have much time to see her.

"I have another idea." Naruto said before he grabbed Ino in an embrace and started channelling fire chakra all throughout his body. He quickly heated up and then did the same thing to Ino's bare skin.

"Oh boy… man this is good. I could definitely get used to this." As the Yamanaka clan heiress said this she snuggled further into Naruto which he did not mind one bit. Sobering herself up, Ino rested on Naruto's chest (one which she very much liked) and got serious. Hesitantly, Ino spoke up, afraid of the next conversation but knowing that they had to have it. "Hey Naruto, what are we? Are we boyfriend and girlfriend? I mean I am really happy spending time with you like this but we are going to be going away from each other for a long time. The earliest I can come back to Konoha on a permanent basis is in a year and a half."

A frown appeared on Naruto's face. "Yeah as much as I would like to, I don't know how we could maintain a boyfriend girlfriend situation with all that time and space away from one another. Plus, with me being a Hokage, I won't have the time to really focus on anything but work for the at least the next year."

Ino released a sigh of relief. She was glad that they were both on the same page. She would of hated if Naruto wanted a relationship when she wasn't in the position to commit to one. The fact that they were both still teenagers was not lost on either one. They had tonnes of time before even thinking about a relationship. "Maybe we should just not commit to anything and if either one of us finds someone that we want to date during the mean time, we are free to engage in that? And if when I come back to Konoha permanently and both of us are single, we can think about it then?"

Hearing what Ino had to say, Naruto agreed. It wasn't fair on either one of them to try and force a relationship long distance. "Yeah and if we see each other during the time when you are in the capital, then anything is up for grabs." Naruto said with a smirk on his face before re-engaging Ino into a searing kiss, happy with the outcome they agreed on.


	21. Out of the darkness

"It is with great pleasure that I announce, as Daimyo of Fire Country, that the Godaime Hokage of Konoha has been decided." Cheers chorused through the area as Akira greeted the crowd of nearly 200,000 people. "The decision process my colleagues and I went through, was a gruelling six-month process but we have come to a decision in which we believe will serve Konoha the best going into the future." Looking down at all of the patient people, Akira decided to get to the part that everyone was here for. "Without further ado, I will state that the person chosen to become the Godaime Hokage is one who has the Hokage title in his genetics. His mother is a member of the sister clan of the Senjus and his father was none other than the Yondaime Hokage. May I present to you, your new Godaime Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki."

As Akira said this, Naruto used the body flicker to appear on the platform.

Stunned silence filled the area before raucous applause erupted. The large majority of this was coming from the civilians in the crowd. They had seen Naruto win the most recent chunin exams and thought that he was very good.

The shinobi however, especially the jonin that weren't already aware of the decision making process were very sceptical. Sure, they knew that he had potential, he was a very promising shinobi but to give him the position of Hokage? Well that was definitely something that they did not see coming.

Hearing a colleague questioning if the people in charge had gone senile, one Anko Mitarashi spoke up. "Hey don't question the kid until you have seen him in action. I was one of the chunin exam proctors so I had to read up on his file and I have also done a few missions with him so I know him fairly well. The gaki is an absolute freak! 12 months ago, he was a genin without a team. Six months ago he won the chunin exams and killed a jinchuuriki. These days, he is already a jonin level shinobi who could hold his own against pretty much any shinobi in the village. It's clear that they are trying to play the long game with giving the brat the role. Just imagine, if he went from Genin to jonin in a year, just how strong will he be in a year's time, five years' time, a decade? Plus, also, the kid is just starting to hit puberty so he will continue to grow even stronger."

"Not that I'm not disagreeing with you but can't make someone Hokage with just potential. They need to be a highly skilled ninja before they take the role. How can he defend us if say Iwagakure come and try and start the next war? I'm sure those cunts will do anything to kill the son of Yondaime-sama." The Jonin replied back to the purple haired woman.

"I bet they are going to have Jiraiya hang around a fair over the next few years to be a threat to any villages who think we are easy pickings. Plus, we also have our jinchuuriki who is a master of all 5 elements and he has enough chakra blow up multiple mountains. Thanks to Naruto killing the jinchuuriki from the Sand village, we didn't lose as many people as we could have."

"True, I guess we will just have to see how this works out then huh? These next few months will definitely be interesting."

As this conversation was going on, one person in particular was cheering the loudest. That was none other than Rock Lee. "Yosh Naruto-kun! Your flames of youth burn brightly. I shall support you in your new role and if I cannot then I will to 1,000 pull ups and if I cannot do that then I will do 10,000 sit ups!"

Tenten had long tuned out of her teammates speech. Instead she focused on what was in front of her. Never in a million years if someone had told her in the academy that Naruto Uzumaki would become the Hokage would she have believed them. Naruto wasn't even the best in the class! That title went to Neji, plus he didn't even have a team for a year! She was happy for him but wondered whether or not there was someone else who was a bit more qualified for the role.

She was happy for Naruto but to be honest, it made her feel a bit inadequate about herself. Naruto had gone from Genin to Kage in the same space of time that she barely managed to go from Genin to chunin. _Is the gulf in skill between the two of us really that much? I mean we haven't been on a mission together in a long time but he can't be that good can he? Oh well at least he is cute… I haven't been getting much luck from Neji so it might not hurt to ask out Naruto-san._

Much like Tenten, Neji didn't quite believe that Naruto had the skill required to become the Hokage. He saw the potential that Naruto had and noticed how much he had improved from the genin exams to the chunin exams but he was not at the level of what was required to be a Hokage. _I must ask him to spar with me. I need to see how far off I am of that level._

A Hyuga of similar age on the other side of the area was Hinata. If she was completely honest with herself, she was a bit disappointed. She knew that it was Konohamaru-kun's dream to become the Hokage and with someone as young as Naruto taking over, it all but ended his chances of becoming the Hokage. She knew Naruto was strong however and hoped that he would lead Konoha into great prosperity.

Kiba who was looking had a large amount of jealousy flowing through his body. He wished he was the one up there, getting all that attention and fame. He didn't believe that the kid who was in the chunin exams was good enough to become the Hokage of Konoha. He had improved a lot over the past six months and just got the rank of chunin. The Inuzuka wanted to challenge Naruto and see how good he really was!

The Aburame clan heir was impressed that Konoha was willing to make such a progressive choice in Hokage. He was interested in seeing how Naruto as Hokage would play out. He hoped it was for the best.

Kurenai, unaware of what her students were thinking had her own opinion on Naruto becoming Hokage. When she tested Sasuke on his genjutsu, she was impressed but it was nothing remarkable. Naruto's was even worse she imagined given that the boy didn't have the sharingan. She wasn't exactly thrilled with the choice in the Hokage and that was not because she was going to never hear the end of it from Asuma.

Gai for his part was proud. Although Naruto was officially Asuma's student, he couldn't help but have pride in Naruto becoming the Hokage. After Naruto healed Lee of his career ending injury, Gai had been teaching Naruto on how to make his bloodline limit as devastating as possible. Within six months, Naruto was the second best taijutsu user in the village and the only reason Gai still held on to the top spot was due to the eight gates. In a pure taijutsu battle, the only people that he knew could go toe to toe with Naruto would be Hiashi and Kakashi.

_You would be proud Minato-sensei and Kushina-sensei! Naruto has become a fine young man that everyone can rely on and I wish you were here today to see him stand on that platform. I hope Naruto gets the reign as Hokage that you should have had sensei. I'll do my best to guide Naruto to making the decisions that are best for the village._

**x-X-x**

After the celebrations had died down, Naruto quickly got back to business. The final term of the year for the shinobi academy had just ended and now was the best time to enact his first change as Hokage.

"Please bring the entire academy staff into the meeting room ANBU-san." Naruto stated, watching as the ninja went off and did their job. Shortly after giving the command, the newly minted Kage headed off into the same meeting room.

"Now you might be all wondering why I brought you here?" Naruto said to all of the teachers, giving a small smile to his own teacher Suzume from when he was in the academy. "Firstly, I just want to congratulate you all on doing a good job. I know a lot of people don't give teachers the credit they deserve for guiding the next generation as you're not just teachers but also role models. I know this from firsthand experience that I wouldn't be where I am today without the various role models I have had in my life."

As he said this, all of the teachers had a smile on their faces. It was no secret that many people looked down on teachers, the famous saying being, those who can't do, teach. If felt great for the Hokage to tell them how good they were doing at a normally looked down upon job.

"The reason why I have brought you here though is because I want to completely overhaul the academy."

Naruto let that sink in the air for a few moments and waited for someone to speak up. That was Suzume. "Hokage-sama, what do you mean?" Suzume bravely questioned.

"You can just call me Naruto-san, Suzume-sensei." The blonde kage said with a smile on his face, causing the shy woman to blush slightly; happy that the Hokage called her sensei still. It filled her with great pride.

"For too many years, Konoha has been far too reliant on individual brilliance to win wars. Whilst I definitely believe that the contributions of the larger military force were significant, as a hidden village, we rely more on our elite shinobi compared to our enemies. If we can raise the quality of each shinobi, we will become less reliant on creating the next Minato Namikaze."

"How do you plan on changing that Hokage-sama?" Iruka questioned, slightly hesitant to hear the answer.

Naruto smiled. "In a nutshell, I plan on redeveloping the curriculum at taught in the academy to focus less on theoretical knowledge and more on practical skills. I know that my appointment to Hokage will be seen as a weakness in the eyes of the other villages. As much as I don't want to prepare the students for war, I would rather prepare them for it and not require them to participate then to force them when they are not sufficiently prepared." The cold truth was a bitter pill for Naruto to swallow. He did not like having admit that he had to do this. The pragmatic side of him though knew that this needed to be done.

"To do this, my plan is to move away from one teacher teaching one-year group for the entire year. Instead, the model that we will be going towards is the secondary model for civilians where you have a teacher who specialises in one subject teach it for all year levels."

"But how would the children react to that? They have dependency issues and wish to have a single teacher."

"The younger the age of the person, the abler they are to adapt to change. There will be a few teething issues with this system but the end result will be better. The current academy system from my experience is flawed in the sense that it places too much emphasis on becoming a good shinobi on clans and the jonin-sensei once they graduate. For a child like myself who came from the orphanage and didn't have any form of shinobi background to call upon, I was at a severe disadvantage to the likes of Neji Hyuga who was the rookie of the year in my class."

They could not deny that Naruto was right. Children that came from a clan had a noticeable advantage over civilian children.

"Also, there are different learning styles that differ between children. So just like the elite civilian schools, you will be sent to personal development courses which will allow you to tailor your classwork for each individual student so that they can get the most out of their education."

Naruto, as he said this, noticed that Suzume and Iruka were smiling. _It's obvious to see that they care about their students. Iruka seems like is going to take this challenge head on which is great to see. Hopefully the others will come around. If not…_

"Are there any suggestions on how we should structure the curriculum Hokage-sama?" Iruka questioned whilst the teachers looked on, eager to see how things would change.

"Well teaching is not my area of expertise so I will leave it mostly up to you… but here is the base outline of what I would like. Remember, this is the initial consultation so we will have a few more meetings over the next month and a half before school goes back to finalize everything.

We owe much of our academy's material to the Senju clan as they had the largest private library of any ninja clan. At the time though, they didn't really have a budget to fund an expansive academy like what we do now."

"Sorry Naruto-san for Interrupting but did you mention something along the lines of a budget increase!?" Suzume questioned giddy with excitement. All of the other teachers in the room also looked on with eagerness.

Seeing the looks on their faces, Naruto smirked. He knew saying something like that was akin to saying free buffet right outside the Akimichi clan compound. "Yes, there will be significant increase in academy funding. Back to my main point though, the academy was funded on a smaller budget, therefore they had to cut some corners.

The Senju clan have five different taijutsu styles. One of them became the one you know as the academy taijutsu style. Each of the five taijutsu styles represent an element and it is why I found it very easy to learn the academy taijutsu style as it is based around the fire element. For someone who had a wind element, it would make it significantly harder to learn the something that would be much less effective than if they learnt the wind based taijutsu style.

I want to implement the five taijutsu styles to the curriculum and based on an elemental affinity test, teach the student their taijutsu. This would also Segway into ninjutsu training. I don't think it is out of the question for an academy student by the time they graduate with the proper guidance, to learn one offensive and one defensive C-rank ninjutsu from their respective element given I managed to do this one from leaving the academy without a teacher."

"Teaching elemental ninjutsu to an academy student? Isn't that a bit much?" one of the teachers in the room questioned. It seemed like quite a lot take in.

"Children at these ages are surprisingly adaptable to new forms of stimulus. The worst that we can do is trial this for a semester and realise that it is hindering their performances in other areas and revert back some of the curriculum."

The meeting went on for another hour, hashing out a few finer points of that would give the academy to work with. With everything finished up, and people looking to leave the room, Naruto spoke up.

"Just one last thing before you leave." He said, getting their attention before continuing on. "By the way, effective immediately, you are now on six-month temporary contracts at the academy. At the end of semester one, you will have a performance review and if you are not up to the standards Konoha expects, you will be removed from the academy and put into active duty. See ya!" Naruto said before using the body flicker jutsu to leave with a few embers left in his wake.

It was widely known that the academy was seen as a place where you could relax and slack off. Quite a few of the teachers started to panic. Iruka for one was the complete opposite. _Bring it on!_

**x-X-x**

Knowing what was going to happen that day, Jiraiya didn't bother sticking around to see Naruto get coroneted as the Hokage of Konoha. Instead, he headed off in the last known direction that his spies had reported his former teammate. Jiraiya agreed with Naruto in that Sarutobi-sensei had spent a lot of time giving Tsunade preferential treatment, spending time outside of the village.

With Konoha being hit recently by the sand invasion, they needed every bit of help that they could get to regain their position in the world. This was especially so with Naruto taking over as the Hokage. Sure, he had a lot of faith in the boy and knew that he had the potential to become a great Hokage but as of now, Naruto was jonin level material, not Hokage.

**x-X-x**

Naruto stood in the private Hokage training grounds, theory crafting his two new jutsus. A month ago, Naruto saw some civilian kids playing a video game through a shop front window and noticed that two of the kids that the two characters they were playing as were made up of bones. Always interested in new ways to potentially use his bloodline limit, Naruto walked in and came over and watched them.

After giving a quick introduction, the kids were happy to have him watch them play. Naruto then offered to pay for the next two hours of playtime as long as he could talk to them for about half an hour before hand about said two characters they were playing as. One of them was apparently called the skeleton king and the one was called the bone fletcher. This worked out well for Naruto as one was ranged shooter and the other was a melee ranged fighter. In tandem, he hoped that they could be a significant threat to an enemy.

A month later and Naruto had managed to do the easy part. That was creating the warriors externally out of his bone and using his chakra to make their bodies work. The hard part was the next bit. Naruto knew that he wouldn't be able to control this jutsu whilst also fighting an enemy. He needed it to become sentient. Naruto needed it to be able to listen to a command and then go off and do it without him having to oversee every move.

Thanks to a bit of help from his not girlfriend Ino Yamanaka, Naruto had a few new ideas that he wanted to try to get these jutsus working. Channelling the advice that Ino had given him, Naruto went through some hand seals and placed his hands on the ground. "Uzumaki Hijutsu: Sukerutonkingku! (Uzumaki Secret Style: Skeleton King!"

Much like the last few times that he had attempted the jutsu, Naruto watched on as the skeleton came to life. Naruto was giddy as he had even managed to create a cape for the warrior. Unlike the last few times though, Naruto noticed that there was fire behind the eyes of the skeleton.

"My name is Leoric and I am at your service my liege." Leoric stated as he bowed down, digging his sword into the ground.

"Fuck yeah! This is awesome! Alright Leoric-san, I want you to fight me and show me everything you have got." With that said, the Skeleton King charged.

**x-X-x**

"Well, it didn't take as long as I thought to find you again Tsunade-chan." Jiraiya commented with a grin on his face."

Grunting at the sight of her former teammate, Tsunade replied. "What is it that you want Jiraiya, have you come to buy more of the Senju compound with your riches from that stupid perverted book series?"

"Jeez can't you be happy for my success rather than be jealous…" Jiraiya replied back. He wasn't really in the mood to play these games.

Affronted by the comment, Tsunade had a look of disgust on her face. "As if I would ever be jealous of that filth."

Jiraiya shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes. "You're coming back to Konoha." Jiraiya said with a neutral expression on his face.

"Psshh no I am not Jiraiya! There's no way I am going back to that wretched village." Tsunade flippantly responded to Jiraiya, before turning around and giving her attention to the poker machine she was in front of.

"Alright then, I guess we will play this the hard way." Seeing that Tsunade was still not paying any attention to him, Jiraiya turned and faced Shizune. Said woman got fearful. This Jiraiya who was in front of her was different from the jovial one that she met up with months ago. This was one of the Sannin.

"Shizune, you are officially ordered by the Godaime Hokage of Konoha to return back to the village. If you don't return via your own choice, then I will make you return by force." Jiraiya said, laying down the threat.

This was enough to moderately sober up Tsunade and take an interest in the conversation "What the hell Jiraiya. Your problem is with me, not her so leave her out of this! Plus, what did you say about the new Godaime Hokage? I guess that must have got some new fool to take the hat huh? Who is it? I bet it's that gaki Kakashi."

Ignoring Tsunade, knowing that she was trying to redirect the conversation, Jiraiya focused on the easiest way he knew how to get Tsunade back to Konoha. That was through manipulating Shizune. "Look Nade, don't make this any harder than it has to be. We are still reeling from the blow dealt by the Sand invasion and we need to get as many qualified medics as possible to help out. Also Shizune, the new Hokage, is looking to change the curriculum at the academy so we will need some guidance from someone experienced like yourself Shizune on how to effectively incorporate medical Ninjutsu into the academy curriculum." Jiraiya, said, knowing that this was a trigger topic for Tsunade.

"You've got until 9am tomorrow morning to make up your decision and meet me at the edge of town heading towards Konoha. If you aren't there I will know that you have decided to become a missing ninja of Konoha and I will track you down and bring you back by force. Even if that means going through Tsunade to get to you." Jiraiya said before vanishing in a flicker of leaves.

The second that Jiraiya left, Tsunade's eyes turned and zeroed in on her student. Noticing this gaze, Shizune spoke up. "Look Tsunade-sama, I need some time to think for myself." Shizune said before vanishing much like Jiraiya did moments before.

A feeling of emptiness rocked the blonde haired woman to her core. Feelings of betrayal flooded through her body and her heart felt like it had been ripped out of her chest. _Damn Jiraiya having to ruin everything! Why does he have to take the last bit of happiness away from me? Also who the fuck is the new Hokage and who do they think they are threatening us like that. If Shizune has to go back to Konoha then I will go back and rip their throat out._

**x-X-x**

News travelled quickly and the news that Konoha had made the ninja who had killed her little brother Kage hit Temari like a tonne of bricks. _How can I gain revenge for killing Gaara if he is the Hokage!? Is he really that strong? Was he holding back when he fought against Gaara? There's no way one can go from genin to kage in six months!_

"ARRRGGHH!" Temari screamed as she swung her fan in outrage as a desert mountain, nearly slicing the structure in two clean parts. _If he managed to become a kage then so can I! I will just have to train hard and get the position when Baki-sensei is no longer the interim leader._

**x-X-x**

It wasn't just Sunagakure where the news of Naruto Uzumaki becoming the recent Hokage of Konoha. Kumogakure had also heard of the news. Ei, the Yondaime Raikage, was both impressed and curious as to how someone so young managed to become a Hokage. Sure he knew that the boy was the enemy of his rival but it was a stretch to say that this Naruto kid was as good as his father.

"Samui-san, I have a mission for you. You shall be the ambassador to Konoha. _That Kaguya bloodline would definitely strengthen our village if Samui managed to get her hands on it. _Ever the opportunist, Ei thought of the best way to increase the strength of the village.

**x-X-x**

"Curse you brat… why did you have to go and make my life so difficult." Onoki muttered to himself. He desperately wished that Naruto was not the Hokage. This was not out of fear that the boy knew the flying thunder god jutsu no, this was because he knew exactly what his retarded daimyo was going to do when he found out the information that Naruto was now the Hokage of Konoha, much like his father was several decades ago.

_Might as well get this over with… _Onoki thought to himself as he started writing down the names of ten jonin who he knew greatly despised the yellow flash. It was almost clockwork that by the time that the Tsuchikage had finished writing the names down on the paper, the earth daimyo entered the room.

"Just shut up and take this piece of paper. It will tell you everything you will need to know." The Daimyo was miffed at the treatment that Onoki was giving him but didn't question it.

_Now how bad will this cluster fuck of a situation turn out to be?_

**x-X-x**

Orochimaru was seething in anger. First, he had not yet managed to gather Sasuke back to his village. The boy apparently managed to fight and kill all of the sound four including Kimimaro. How that actually happened he was not sure but he couldn't look past the evidence. Secondly, he had finally just finished healing from his recent body transformation and in this time, Naruto had managed to become the Hokage of konoha.

_I guess I am going to have to take Sasuke-kun by force and I might as well kill another kage whilst I am at it!_

**x-X-x**

"Mei-sama, I have some recent news. It is in regards to Naruto Uzumaki." Ao said with frustration evident. It was clear to see that this was a sore topic for the man. Ever since Naruto managed to evade the byakugan with that cloud of chakra laced smoke, he wanted to redeem himself and capture the ninja for the betterment of Kirigakure.

"Oh, and what is that?" Mei questioned with a smile on her face. Ao had no idea though whether or not that smile meant that he was about to die though…

"I have just gotten word that Konoha has promoted him to Hokage. Nothing screamed that he was Hokage material earlier when I faced him though so I have my doubts to his skill level. He is fairly young and still a kid in my eyes to be a Hokage.

_Kids, fairly young_

A twitch appeared on the face of Mei. "Shut up Ao or I'll kill you."

**x-X-x**

Jiraiya was waiting at the spot he told Shizune about. He had not seen either of the two females since the day before. Tsunade for her part had tried to find Jiraiya but much to her dismay, she wasn't able to.

The blonde haired woman was beyond frustrated. For the first time in ages, she didn't drink any alcohol from the moment that Shizune left her. Thoughts had plagued her mind.

The paramount thought in her mind was that she was not going to influence Shizune's decision, no matter how much she wanted to. She knew that she put her apprentice through a lot over the past decade and a bit. She had to sacrifice a hell of a lot to over the time. Tsunade doubted that Shizune had even had experienced the joys of sex due to her having such a limited social life out on the road.

If she was completely honest with herself, she knew that the life that she was currently living was a shell of the one that she could have been living. One that both Dan and Nawaki would look down on her for. It was the reason why she said thanks but no thanks to Orochimaru a few months ago.

Whether or not she would return to Konoha, Tsunade was not sure. Her gut feeling told her that Jiraiya was not going to relax if she said no a second time. Speaking of her former teammate, he was acting completely different to the way how he normally acted. Normally, Jiraiya would do something perverted, in an exuberant manner upon meeting her. As much as she hated the perverted side of it, Tsunade privately admitted to herself that she enjoyed the enthusiasm and energy he showed. He was the only one out of the three that wasn't broken.

It was gone last night and when Tsunade saw Jiraiya, he instantly looked ten years older, despite having seen the man merely month ago. The woman was worried for her teammate. No matter what had happened in life, he was always jovial and happy.

_What was it that made him change?_ She questioned herself the night before and she couldn't come up with an answer. Throughout all of the time she had known him, Jiraiya had seen her at points which were far worse and yet he stuck around and was still her friend. Now however… She was not too sure.

Tsunade, as she followed Shizune without the woman aware, she wondered what she was going to do. As she mentally said to herself, if Shizune was going to be forced back into the military, then she was going to go back to Konoha and pulverise the new Hokage. If her former teammate wasn't going to tell her who it was, then she was going to find out herself.


	22. And into the sun

"Can I please see your Konoha registration cards please." One of the two chunin gate guards questioned. Hesitation evident on their faces. They had a good idea who two of the ninjas standing in front of him were but he had to make sure.

"Sure." Jiraiya replied, having a grin on his face. Tsunade merely grunted whilst giving her own. Shizune politely smiled and handed hers over. Once the tasks were done, they quickly received the cards and headed for the Hokage tower.

Tsunade was eagerly awaiting this moment. On the journey back to Konoha, Jiraiya had remained tight lipped in regards to who the Hokage was. It only served to make the blonde haired woman even more curious.

The other thing that she was curious but also concerned about was that Jiraiya hadn't made a single perverted remark or action, even to the point where she hadn't noticed him peeking on her when he thought that she wasn't looking. To be completely honest, it unnerved her. Something had distinctly changed in the dynamic between herself and her former teammate and she was not sure what it was but she was fairly confident that she didn't like it; even if it did mean no peeking.

Shizune was also curious as to what it was that made Jiraiya change. From everything that she had heard about the man over the years from Tsunade, seeing him in the flesh was completely different. He was nothing like the person who her master had told her about and yet she had no reason to believe that the Sannin would lie.

"Let's get this over with. I don't want to be here any longer than I have to." Tsunade stated, with a determined look on her face as she quickly jumped onto the building roofs. The other two shinobi quickly followed after her.

"Wait Tsunade-sama, the new Hokage may have a meeting." Shizune called out to her sensei as they arrived at the office.

Unperturbed in the slightest, Tsunade angrily walked to the door. "I don't care!" and launched a chakra enhanced punch to the door, shattering it on impact. ANBU members immediately dropped down from their positions, surrounding the Hokage.

Looking up from the paperwork in front of him which was about intergrating the civilian work force into military positions, Naruto sighed as he realised who it was. He had been briefed by his sensei on what to expect upon meeting Tsunade. He was not afraid at all. "You're paying for that you realise." Naruto said with a dry look on his face.

Thankfully Naruto wasn't doing anything sensitive before Tsunade barged in.

"You… You're a kid!" Tsunade said, finger pointing and all as she stared at the choice for the new Hokage. She honestly couldn't believe that they got some kid to take over the most important role in the village from her former sensei. Shizune was in a similar state of shock but she didn't dare voice her opinion.

"I am also the Godaime Hokage of Konoha." Naruto replied back with an annoyed look on his face. Over the past month, he had constantly been getting used to the fact that no one respected him in the position due to his age. The only difference now was that this was more blatant.

"There's no way I can respect someone who hasn't even finished puberty as the Hokage of Konoha." The blonde haired woman said before turning around and preparing to walk out of the room. "This must be some sort of sick joke, putting a child in charge of a shinobi village. Jiraiya, did you have any say in this?" As this was said, a pointed stare was directed at the silver haired man.

"Then you will officially be labelled a missing ninja of Konoha and I will order Jiraiya to detain you and lock you up in our maximum security prison before getting Inoichi to extract every bit of information from your body." The new Hokage coolly stated, staring the woman down.

Affronted at the suggestion, Tsunade turned around. "Just for saying that, I am going to bash your head in you spoiled brat. Someone ought to teach you manners."

Naruto wasn't concerned. "How about you put your money where your mouth is." It was enough of a statement for Tsunade to stop and raise her eyebrow, demanding the Uzumaki to continue. "How about we have a fight and if you win, I will allow both yourself and Shizune to leave, all duty to Konoha will be erased and we will even write off the remaining about of debt you are in?"

"And what if you win?" Tsunade questioned although she was fairly confident she had an idea what this boy would want.

"When I win." Naruto made a clear point to emphasize the when not the if. "You and Shizune will agree to spend the next 10 years inside the village. Shizune will either work at the hospital or go on active duty. Tsunade, you will take up the role of Director of health where you will be in charge of the Konoha hospital. In addition to this, you will liaise with the academy director to help introduce a new curriculum which emphasizes medical ninjutsu training to all students, not just one designated student per team." Naruto said, still with the straight face.

_Kid definitely knows how to poke the trigger points in people _Jiraiya mused to himself. Every single thing that Naruto mentioned that she would be required to do were changes that Tsunade herself had advocated for many decades ago.

This was not something that Tsunade was missed either. It was clear that either he had done his research or was at least making the most of the information presented to him, trying to manipulate her. "Alright gaki, let's see what you got right now. If you win, I agree that I will become the director of the hospital but if I don't, you will waive everything and I will be on my way."

After the Senju woman said this, the first sign of emotion appeared on the face of Naruto; a smirk. "I wouldn't have it any other way Tsunade-sama."

**x-X-x**

As they were walking over to the private training ground, Naruto started channelling fire chakra throughout his body to warm it up. That way he could go all out from the start and not have to worry as much in straining a muscle.

Tsunade wasn't doing such a thing. Instead, she was going over in her mind the things she knew about the boy standing beside her. From the little she remembered from the chunin exams, the boy had some form of bloodline limit and he could use the fire element fairly well. She still couldn't even remember his name, hoping that that would give more away about the upcoming fight.

Despite her initial surprise that Naruto was barely a teenager and that she wouldn't respect him, Tsunade was no fool in thinking that the kid would at least have some talent to back up being put in the chair. She highly doubted that Konoha had managed to create another Itachi but it wouldn't be out of the realms of possibility. Having said that, she had seen what Naruto was capable of at the chunin exams when he had killed the Ichibi. If that was his maximum skill level at the time, then there was no way despite whatever training he had done up until now, there was no way that he was a Hokage level shinobi.

"Are you ready?" Naruto questioned as he broke the blonde haired woman out of her revere. He was eager to get this battle on. This was the first time that he was going to go up against the calibre of Tsunade and he wanted to see where he compared. Whilst he had fought A-ranked ninjas before, it was a significant step up to fight against an S-ranked ninja. Sure, he had fought Jiraiya but with nothing being on the line each time they sparred, it didn't mean as much to the aspiring Uzumaki.

"Yeah, you're a hundred years too young to be able to beat me kid." Tsunade boasted despite settling into a taijutsu stance. Admittedly, she knew that she could have trained harder of the past few years but she thought that the fact that she was at least sober would get her over the line.

Naruto wasn't taking any chances though.

_Gate of Life: Open!_ Naruto internally called out as he opened the first of eight gates and rocketed off of the ground in the direction of Tsunade. As he was sprinting to Tsunade, Naruto quickly activated his bloodline and had bones spurt out in every direction.

Surprise filled out Tsunade as she had forgotten about the fact that the new Hokage had the bloodline of the Kaguya's. _Shit, this just got much harder. He is even capable of channelling fire chakra into each bone._ Tsunade thought to herself as she did her best to dodge Naruto.

It wasn't enough. Caught by the surprise at the speed in which Naruto moved, Naruto was able to drill one of the bones in his arm into the shoulder of Tsunade. He got a good enough hit to the point where half of the bone had dug in and caused blood to spurt out.

"Ahhh!" Tsunade cried out, shocked at the amount of pain she was in at having a chunk of flesh being ripped out. As she did this, she couldn't help but look at her arm. The end was essentially sealed with this moment as the moment that the blonde saw blood, she went catatonic.

Naruto wasn't aware of this though and continued on with the fight. Using the blade at the base of his palm, Naruto slammed it right through the left kidney of Tsunade and channelling fire chakra into her body, spreading it all over.

Before Naruto could do any more, JIraiya came over and pushed Naruto to the side. "This fight is over and the winner is Naruto! Shizune get over here!" The late twenties woman didn't need to be told twice and went over to her master immediately and started healing her as best as she could.

Releasing the gate of life, Naruto turned around to Jiraiya. "What! Why did you stop the fight? We were only just getting started!" Naruto said with frustration evident on his face.

"I didn't think that Tsunade would still be affected by it but she developed Hemophobia, the fear of blood. The second she sees any blood, she goes into a state of shock and is unable to function"

Shock appeared on the face of Naruto as he couldn't believe such a thing for someone as accomplished as Tsunade. "Really!?" seeing the head nod from Jiraiya, Naruto frowned. "Well I guess that was a bit of a let down, I was expecting more from your former teammate. Look I have to get back to the office unless you want to do the paperwork for me?" Naruto questioned to which Jiraiya merely scoffed.

"Well catch ya around sensei." The blonde said before disappearing, leaving a few embers in his wake.

**x-X-x**

"I want you to spread the rumour of what you saw today. Don't mention that the fight was cancelled due to her Hemophobia but do spread that I won." Public perception was key for the role of Hokage. For Naruto, it was an area where he definitely needed improvement on.

It was not that the shinobi and civilian populace hated Naruto, it was just that they didn't believe that he was capable of the job. To the ninjas, they had seen the performance during the chunin exams and whilst it was impressive, to think that one could go from potential chunin to Hokage in six months was absurd.

He remembered his speech from his inauguration one month ago.

_**Flash back**_

_Naruto bowed to the daimyo, thanking him for his previous announcement. As he walked to the stage with chatter happening around him, Naruto looked over at the people that now looked at him for protection. His people._

_Steeling his nerves, Naruto spoke his first address to the village. "Firstly, I want to say thank you to those past and present who have given their lives and so much more to the village. I hope that I can follow in their footsteps and do Konoha proud._

_As was previously announced, my father is the Yondaime Hokage and My mother is from the Uzumaki clan. I however was unaware of this until very recently. Unfortunately, like a lot of other kids, I came from the orphanage with the dreams of merely surviving. As I was able to achieve that goal, I was able to progress to dreaming for something bigger, harder to accomplish._

_Today, that goal of merely surviving as an orphaned child has turned into protecting the village and turning into a place of prosperity. For too long, since the Kyubi attack, Konoha has been living in a shadow of what it once was. We have been struggling to return to our rightful place on top of the ninja food chain._

_When the attempted kidnapping of a toddler happened by Kumogakure, we had to sit back and watch as one of our loyal, respected and talented ninjas had to make a noble sacrifice to ensure that Kumo didn't go to war with us. In addition, when we finally got back to a respectable level, Konoha was hit with the joint invasion from Suna and Oto. Thankfully with the prevention of the jinchuuriki releasing his demon, Konoha didn't suffer as many losses._

_My point is that our enemies no longer fear us. We don't have a ninja such as Hashirama or my father Minato Namikaze to instil fear into the other villages like we once did. Instead, we have to rely on the Will of Fire more so than ever and team work to win battles._

_The first change that I am making as Hokage is a radical overhaul on the academy. No longer will children from a clan have such preferential education in becoming a shinobi. The academy will be a lot more expansive, allowing students who come from underprivileged backgrounds to get the education that every child deserves._

_It will be harder but also easier in that it won't be a generic one size fits all scenario like it currently is at the academy. The academy will be working both the Yamanaka clan and also Civilian psychologists who study children learning patterns to come up with the most effective learning style for each student. Also, there will be a minimum graduation age to allow for time for the mental development of our shinobi to prevent something like Itachi happening again._

_Because if you constantly judge a fish on how well it can climb a tree, it will go its whole life believing that it is stupid."_

_Murmurs broke out after Naruto stopped speaking. Talking ensued on the first point that Naruto had made as Hokage and the solution that he provided to resolve the issue. For many years, many shinobi had believed the academy to be a joke in teaching potential ninja. It focused far too much on civilian theory for the shinobi. They hoped that what their new Hokage was talking about was a bit more hands on._

_On the other hand, they heard how he was going to be in consultation with civilians on how to run a ninja academy. That didn't sit too well with them._

_The thought of preventing another clan massacre at the hands of a gifted prodigy though was something that they could get behind._

"_In addition to these changes at the academy, there will also be changes into the administration of Konoha's military. Many positions in the administration of the Konoha Military do not require the ability to mould chakra or be fighting fit." The moment that Naruto said this, the eyes of many civilians lit up but also caused a significant amount of genin to get worried. There were more civilians than genin though._

"_To increase the number of shinobi that Konoha can call upon, we will be reviewing the structure of the military. If it is deemed that your role is something that does not require any shinobi abilities, your role will be opened to the public. You will be able to reapply for your job."_

_Pure outrage came from the shinobi and utter joy came from the civilians in Konoha. "How can we trust a civilian to know anything about the military though!?" One chunin who used chakra to enhance his vocal chords so everyone could hear him shouted out._

_Naruto replied, wanting his point to be made loud and clear. "How can we trust shinobi? At the end of the day we are all just human. There will be an extensive process in forming a security evaluation on each civilian that takes up a role in the military. The fact is that if someone who has no idea about how the military works and is yet able to do your job more effectively, then they deserve it and you don't. Roles such as finance, logistics and resource management require little knowledge on the Konoha Military. If it is easier to train someone with a degree and proven results in finance in the military than it is to a shinobi on everything finance, then we will do it because it is the best thing for the village._

_This is not to say that every single role will go to a civilian. There will need to be a balance but the end result is that civilians and shinobi working in tandem to produce the best possible result for Konoha."_

_**End Flash Back**_

As Naruto broke himself out of his musings, he knew that the next few months were going to be crucial to his appointment as Hokage. Already, two reviews had started, one into the administration of Konoha and one into the academy. Soon there was going to be another one into the hospital.

If there was one thing that the daimyo stressed when they had spoken in private, at the end of his first day in charge, it was that he wished for a cohesive Konoha. It wasn't just Konoha but every single shinobi village had a great disconnect between the shinobi force and those that they were serving. Akira had mentioned a single quote that resonated with Naruto.

"The sum of the parts is greater than the whole." After hearing it and how Akira spoke, Naruto was blind for not seeing it earlier. Konoha preached the Will of Fire and how teamwork was the best way to live and yet it was a massive hypocrite of this when it came to internal affairs.

There was a severe us vs them mentality that Naruto wanted to get rid of. If they worked together, just like the ninjas did in the field, then it would benefit Konoha.

A few shinobi had sparked a protest about the issue but those funnily enough were only in the positions that field shinobi considered relaxed and you didn't do much work in. the large majority of shinobi, especially the jonin were for making those doing nothing to get back out in the field or become a civilian.

Small protests were immediately outweighed by large support from the civilian sectors, seeing a potential giant boom in the economy through the jobs becoming available to everyone.

**x-X-x**

In a dimly lit bar sat two veteran shinobi. "I still can't believe that a brat like him is the Hokage of Konoha." Tsunade mused over her sake in her hands.

Jiraiya merely had a smirk on his face. "Managed to beat you in five seconds. No matter who it is, I would say that that is pretty impressive." He too had a glass of sake on the table.

A scowl appeared on the face of the blonde as Jiraiya said this. "He just caught me off guard. If I didn't have this stupid hemophobia then I would have won that fight." She had to admit though that he was good. The speed in which he closed the distance and fought at was impressive for anyone, let alone a 15-year-old. That and the fact that he had the bloodline of the Kaguya clan flowing through him made him that much more of a dangerous Shinobi. It was obvious to her that she had only seen the surface of Naruto's power and she was curious as to how much more there was under the surface.

"Keep telling yourself that. Even if Naruto is not a kage level shinobi yet, it would still be an even fight between the two of you even if you were at your prime. The kid is real good Tsunade and has the potential to be one of the best.

"I'll give you that he is good but that is a big claim to make that he could be on the same level as my grandfather. He had to open the first gate to achieve the speed that surprised me. If it wasn't for the use of the first gate straight from the start, then he wouldn't have been fast enough to catch me off guard and causing blood to fall."

Jiraiya shook his head. "To start off, you haven't seen much of him yet. He still has a fair few tricks up his sleeve that he hasn't shown you. Also, I'm not basing Naruto becoming the best from where he is now but from where he was a bit over a year ago compared to now." It was this that Tsunade was interested in.

"A bit over a year ago, Naruto was still in the genin reserves. Kakashi had failed him despite getting the idea of the bell test right but his two teammates failed it and thus he was Naruto was sent to the genin reserves." Jiraiya mentioned and the blonde couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. For someone to go from a genin reserve to jonin level shinobi in one year was unheard of.

"In came little Asuma who had a spot open up on his team due to a death and Naruto rocked up. He gave Naruto an opportunity and the boy took it with both hands. Naruto didn't even know about his bloodline until deciding to treat himself with a bit of milk after getting the team. From there, Asuma has been teaching Naruto along with a few other people including myself.

He went from being your run of the mill genin with the ability to use one elemental attack outside of the standard three academy jutsus and in six months went to the level of an upper chunin capable of killing the one tail jinchuuriki. Half a year later and you saw what he was; I would say he is a jonin bordering on elite jonin. Tsunade, he went from average genin to mid, verging on high ranked Jonin in a year. If you tell me that isn't the potential to be one of the very best, then you are full of shit."

Surprised at the seriousness in which her former teammate talked, Tsunade took another look at the man in front of her. "He really means a lot to you doesn't he, being Minato's son and all." Tsunade said with a soft voice. She could only imagine what Jiraiya must feel like, having trained two Hokage's."

"He does, he is the only person that I have left in this world and I want to make sure that he doesn't make the same mistakes that I made in life." Jiraiya said before bringing the sake to his mouth. He knew what type of response that this was going to get and he was prepared for it. _This conversation is long overdue._

"What do you mean he is the only person you have left? Also what mistakes?"

"I never had a family like you so I don't have any relatives alive, the closest person I had to a role model has died recently despite us having quite a few issues. Minato, who I viewed as my son in all but blood has gone, same with Kushina. My former teammate has turned into an abomination of a human. Finally, my best friend who also happens to be the person I was once in love with has withered away and turned into a shell of her former self due to depression and alcoholism. Outside of Naruto and the Icha Icha franchise, I don't really have anything positive going on in my life so yeah… I am a bit defensive over the kid." Jiraiya admitted with a sigh.

Shocked was the understatement of the century for Tsunade. She never had heard her former teammate open up about the things that were troubling him. The Senju believed it to be part of the whole macho man image that he had. Sure, she knew that part of the perverted act was indeed an act but she didn't know how much else was an act. Tonight was the first time that she could remember really opening up and being serious. "What do you mean an alcoholic! I am not an alcoholic!"

When Tsunade shouted that at Jiraiya, the man merely stared back at his former teammate. "Really Tsunade, you're going to tell me, the person who knows you better than any other person on the planet that you aren't one? We both know it, whether or not you like to admit it. There's no point in trying to lie to me."

_Finally, my best friend who also happens to be the person I was once in love with has withered away and turned into a shell of her former self due to depression and alcoholism._

_Am I an alcoholic and depressed?_ As Tsunade thought over it, she realised that her behaviour exhibited all of the signs of depression and attempted to cope by turning to alcohol

_I am depressed_

Tsunade had a startling realisation.

Jiraiya who had seen all of this play out, he was hopeful. Hopeful that he would get his best friend back to her normal self. Seeing this version of Tsunade pained him immeasurably. He wanted the old Tsunade back. "I know that this isn't something that this isn't something that you want to hear but I feel as if it needs to be said regardless. Tsunade, the way that you have been living your life is not the way that they would have wanted you to live. They wanted you to be happy, I want you to be happy. Sarutobi-sensei would have wanted you to be happy.

Can you please give my best friend back? I haven't seen her in the good part of two decades." Jiraiya pleaded, grasping onto Tsunade's hand, covering it either side with each hand and stared into her eyes.

The blonde woman couldn't help but stare into the raw emotion showing in the eyes of Jiraiya. She looked for a second before she had to turn away. The intensity on display was too much for her.

_He is right. Nawaki, Dan and Sarutobi-sensei all would want me to be happy. If they ever saw the way I have been living my life over these past years, they would be disappointed in me. _

Steeling herself as at it felt like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders, Tsunade with a bright smile stared back into the eyes of Jiraiya. "I do… you do." Tsunade quickly said before catching herself and realising what she said. "She's going to take over the hospital and become the Director of Health!"

"Yes!" Jiraiya shouted out in utter jubilation! _That's the Jiraiya that I remember, so full of energy. Pretty much a kid in an adult's body!_

He didn't miss the slip of mouth earlier from Tsunade but he couldn't care one bit. Ever since the announcement that Kushina was pregnant with Naruto, this was the best news he had heard! Without thinking, Jiraiya quickly got out of the booth, grabbed the hand of Tsunade that he was previously holding onto and yanked her out of the booth. The silver haired man lifted the woman up and held onto her tightly as he twirled around.

"Jiraiya" Tsunade screamed out although there was no annoyance in the voice, only mirth. Tsunade mirrored the smile on the face of her best friend before grimacing. Immediately noticing this Jiraiya placed her back down in the chair.

"Is everything alright!?" Jiraiya questioned.

Still from the high of having what felt like the weight of the world lifted off of her shoulders, had a radiating smile on her face. "Yeah, it's just that I have to be careful with the stitches your stupid student gave me."

Jiraiya chuckled "That's Godaime-sama to you Tsunade."

For the first time in a long time, she let out a proper laugh. One that Jiraiya could tell wasn't faked at all. "Yeah I suppose he is. I bet both Kushina and Minato are proud of him. He's the youngest ever kage out of any village isn't he? What took over in just before turning 15?"

"Well I'm not sure about the other villages off the top of my head but yeah, for Konoha he is by far the youngest! Yeah, I don't think they could be any prouder of who Naruto has become." Pride was emanating of Jiraiya as his godson was the youngest ever Hokage.

A thought popped up into the head of Tsunade. "By the way, how did Naruto know what to bribe me with if I lost the bet?" Despite already having a good guess, she wanted to hear it from her friend.

"I said to myself, what would the greatest person in the history of medicine do if she was to improve the Konoha healthcare system? Then I told Naruto that what I thought you would do." Touched at the thought as she didn't realise that Jiraiya knew her dream and succeeded in implementing it 30 years after she had originally proposed a draft version of the idea only to have it turned down.

Her level of respect grew for Jiraiya tenfold with just a single statement. To think that he had remembered that after all of these years was something that she, admittedly didn't expect of him. "Thank you, it means a lot to me." Jiraiya smiled although she was fairly certain that again, for the first time in a very long time, she saw a red tinge to his cheeks.

**x-X-x**

As the night progressed, Jiraiya noticed that Tsunade had not touched a single drop of alcohol from the moment of realisation. The night progressed and before the couple of ninjas realised it, they were sitting side by side on the Hokage monument watching the sunrise. Jiraiya realised at one point, that Tsunade had fallen asleep on his shoulder with a big smile on her face.

_And just like that… everything comes back and I'm in love again. Fuck._


End file.
